by John Holbrook Jr.
A Biblical View, Blog #103 posted August 26, 2019, edited March 10, 2021.
The Jews are possibly the most unpopular people on earth. Why?
Their Election
One reason the Jews are unpopular is that they claim to be God’s Chosen People. That seems to be a bit presumptuous to most Gentiles. It’s one thing for people to claim that they are special in the eyes of their own god or gods. It is quite another thing to claim that they are special in the eyes of the only God, the Creator of Universe. Yet that is what they do.
Their Land
Another reason the Jews are unpopular is that they claim ownership of a substantial portion of the Middle East that lies athwart the crossroads of the world.
Originally the land in question was settled by the Canaanites. It was promised to Abraham by God in 1894 BC. It was seized by the Jews in a campaign led by Joshua from 1424 to 1418 BC, when it was divided among the twelve tribes of Israel. It was held by them until 685 BC, when the Assyrians under Sargon II seized a portion it (the Northern Kingdom of Israel) and carried off most of the Israelites to the territories northeast of Assyria. Then, in 555 BC, the Neo-Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar seized the rest (the southern Kingdom of Judah) and carried off the Judean elite to Babylon and its surrounding region. During the next 2502 years (555 BC-1948 AD), it suffered under the heavy hands of a series of invaders, each of whom exercised hegemony over it, all the while allowing some Jews to remain there:
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- Under the hegemony of the Neo-Babylonians (555-485 BC). The city and its Temple were in ruins, and the Jewish elite lived in exile in Babylon.
- Under hegemony of Persia (485-330 BC), at the beginning of which many of the Jews living in exile were allowed to return to Jerusalem.
- Under the hegemony of Macedon (330-146 BC).
- Under the hegemony of Rome (146 BC-324 AD), which included: the Maccabean Kingdom (143-37 BC) that was instituted by rebels as an independent kingdom and then was ruthlessly suppressed by Rome; the Herodian Kingdom (37 BC – 39 AD) that was instituted by Rome as a Roman satrapy and then replaced by Rome in favor of a Roman governorship; and then the destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple and the banishment of the of the Jews from Judea (70 AD).
- Under the hegemony of the Byzantines (324-624 AD).
- Under the hegemony of the Arabs (624-1099 AD).
- Under the hegemony of the Crusaders (1099-1291 AD).
- Under the hegemony of the Mamluks (1291-1517 AD).
- Under the hegemony of the Ottoman Turks (1571-1917 AD).
- Under the hegemony of the British (1917-1948 AD).
On May 14, 1948, when The Proclamation of the Establishment of the State of Israel was issued by David Ben-Gurion, a portion of the land came under the sovereignty of the Jewish people. This sovereignty was extended over Jerusalem during the Six Day War (1967) and over the Golan Heights during the Yom Kippur War (1973). Since then the Jews have been under continuous attack by the surrounding nations, each of which claims a right to the land – or at least a portion of it – based on the time when they exercised hegemony over it. Consequently the Jews are continually forced to justify their possession of the land by word and by military force.
A good example of this occurred on Monday, April 29, 2019. Two days later, on Wednesday, May 1, 2019, CBNNews.com carried an article by Emily Jones under the headline: “’This is the Deed to Our Land’: Israel’s Ambassador Takes Out Bible at UN to Prove Jewish People’s Claim to Israel.” The article in its entirety reads as follows:
Israel’s UN ambassador Danny Danon used the Bible to defend the Jewish people’s claim to the land of Israel during a special session at the United Nations Security Council on Monday.
Danon was tasked with the job of proving the case for Jews’ connection to the Holy Land during the session. He outlined four reasons, “the Bible, history, international law, and the pursuit of international peace and security.”
In a dramatic moment, Danon opened the Bible and read aloud God’s covenant with Abraham from Genesis 17: “And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your descendants after you throughout the generations for an everlasting covenant. And I will give to you and your descendants after you all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession and I will be their God.”
Danon then raised up the Bible, turned to attendees and said, “This is the deed to our land.”
“From the book of Genesis to the Jews’ exodus, from Egypt to receiving the Torah on Mt. Sinai, and to the realization of God’s covenant in the holy land of Israel, the Bible paints a consistent picture. The entire history of our people and our connection to Eretz Israel begins right here,” he continued while lifting up the Bible once again.
Danon argued that all of the Abrahamic religions – Judaism, Christianity, and Islam – affirm the Jewish people’s connection to Israel.
“The Qur’an itself accepts the divine deed of the Jewish people to the land of Israel,” he said.
That was exactly the right way to assert Israel’s claim to the land which it occupies. He quoted from the Bible, the written Word of God, who created Universe. There is no higher authority in Universe. Yet few people took the idea of a divine deed seriously. Nonetheless, I believe that God will honor the Israelis here, for he says in KJ21 Samuel 2:30, “,,,them that honor me I will honor.”
Their Book
There is only one divine book in existence. It is the Bible. It consists of two parts: the Tenakh (or Old Testament), which was written in Hebrew by Jews, and the New Covenant Scriptures (or New Testament), which was written in Hebraic Greek by Jews.
Unfortunately, most Jews only claim the Tenakh as their own (Ambassador Danon undoubtedly help up a copy of the Tenakh at the UN) and, even worse, view the Talmud as their highest authority. Thus they miss the fact that the Jewish Messiah lies at the center of the entire Bible and is the central character in Universe’s drama. That they do so I regard as one of the genuine tragedies of history.
Moreover, few people recognize the Bible for what it is, the Word of God written. It claims to be divinely inspired and therefore completely trustworthy, yet most people pick and choose what portions of it they will believe – if any.
Psalm 2
All of the foregoing reminds me of Psalm 2, which in the NIV translation reads as follows:
Why do the nations conspire
and the peoples plot in vain?
The kings of the earth take their stand
and the rulers gather together against the LORD
and against his Anointed One.
“Let us break their chains,” they say,”
and throw off their fetters.”
The One enthroned in heaven laughs;
the Lord scoffs at them.
Then he rebukes them in his anger
and terrifies them in his wrath, saying,
“I have installed my King
on Zion, my holy hill.”
I will proclaim the decree of the LORD:
He said to me, “You are my Son;
today I have become your Father.
Ask of me,
and I will make the nations your inheritance,
the ends of the earth your possession.
You will rule them with an iron scepter;
you will dash them to pieces like pottery.”
Therefore, you kings, be wise;
be warned, you rulers of the earth.
Serve the LORD with fear
and rejoice with trembling.
Kiss the Son, lest he be angry
and you be destroyed in your way,
for his wrath can flare up in a moment.
Blessed are all who take refuge in him.
The psalm is speaking about God-the-Father and his Son, whom he sent into the world in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, the Promised Messiah of Israel, to be born of a virgin, live a sinless life, die on the cross to atone for the sins of the world, return to life on the third day, ascend to Heaven fifty days later, and come again in power and glory to wreak God’s vengeance on a rebellious world, create new heavens and a new earth, and rule the world from Jerusalem forever as Prophet, Priest, and King.
Conclusion
One cause of God’s wrath is the refusal of the nations of the world to recognize the Jews as God’s Chosen People and their right to the land which God gave them – i.e. the former land of Canaan in its entirety. Opinions vary. Some voices recognize the Jews’ right to part of the Promised Land. Other voices deny their right to any part of that land. Still other voices call for the elimination of the Jews from the face of the earth.
I find that very few people, among whom I include myself, recognize that the Jews are God’s Chosen People and that all of Palestine belongs to the them (see my blog posted September 26, 2016). The reason is that few people recognize that the Bible is the Word of God and therefore inviolate. It created and under-girds all of Creation. All of human inquiry and investigation must start with the question, “What does God’s Word say about this?” As for what he said about Palestine, Danon quoted him accurately.
© 2019 John Holbrook Jr.
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