WHY THE HATRED, AND IS IT RATIONAL?
Can we understand and analyze hatred for the Jews using the normal reasons for human bias and ethnic xenophobia? What are those normal reasons?
ECONOMIC REASONS FOR HATRED. They are accused of being more financially successful and influential than the others in the land. However, the Jews of 17th-20th century Poland and Russia, were dirt poor and had no influence yet were hated.
Matt. 24:9, “Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake.” (KJV)
Jesus, who loved all of the nation of Israel is predicting that the Jewish nation will be hated because it gave the world Him. Both physical and spiritual Israel will be hated of all nations. Why? Because this is the adversary's society. It does not matter if they are in a position of being blessed (which they often are) or poor –– Satan encourages hatred anyway.
The Chosen People are disliked for claiming special status with God over others in the land. In the late 20th century, many of the Jews of Germany denied “closeness with God” and worked on assimilation, yet the holocaust started there. The Nazis had special investigators to determine who was Jewish. Catholics and Muslims and some others also profess to be the “Chosen People,” yet for the most part they are tolerated for such views and do not have countless pogroms against them spanning thousands of years.
Numbers 24:9, “‘He bows down, he lies down as a lion; And as a lion, who shall rouse him?’ Blessed is he who blesses you, And cursed is he who curses you.’” (NKJV)
Zechariah 2:8, “…to the nations which plunder you; for he who touches you touches the apple of His eye.”
Scapegoats for others can be useful. However, for any group to be used effectively they must already be hated. The scapegoat theory does not explain the causes of Antisemitism. Hatred that already exists is what makes the victims (Jews) convenient targets. Christians and Jews were falsely blamed by Nero for the fires in Rome. Also Hitler’s rants about Jews stabbing Germany in the back during WWI would not be taken seriously if the hatred did not already exist. They became an easy target for evil men. Hatred is like poison in that it hurts both the giver and the victim. The Devil loves this sort of thing.
Blaming the Jews for killing Jesus is inaccurate or at least misses the primary agent, which is all mankind. All have sinned and need the sacrifice of Christ to wash away our sins. Jesus was sacrificed for all of us and God predicted that the leadership would call for his execution. Jesus cooperated in this entire matter. He did not try to escape or fight.
John 18:10-11, “Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest's servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant's name was Malchus. 11 So Jesus said to Peter, ‘Put your sword into the sheath. Shall I not drink the cup which My Father has given Me?’”
Why hatred? Christ said, speaking of the religious leaders, “forgive them for they know not what they are doing.” True Christians realize that we all killed Christ, otherwise we would have to die for our sins individually. The second Vatican Council in 1963, officially exonerated the Jews; yet Antisemitism is still alive and growing.
1 Peter 1:18-19, “Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.”
John 3:15-16, “That whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
They are outsiders. With Enlightenment of the 18th century many Jews assimilated. Antisemitism then should have stopped. However, the Nazi’s cried in essence, “We hate you, not because you are different but because you’re trying to become like us! You will pollute the Aryans.” Some Jews, as they were being put in the cattle cars, said they had fought for Germany during the Great War. It did not matter. This is why Jews feel the need for their own nation controlling their own security.
A Racial Inferiority Theory is used. They are thought to be inferior and yet they dominate in many professions and finances and other important fields of study. Some hate them for their very talents and gifts. However, it is self-contradictory on its face. Furthermore, Jews can include people of many races.
This hatred is not within the range of normality. It is obvious that this hatred is abnormal and comes straight from the demonic world. Nothing else makes sense. It has lasted over thousands of years. If using Old Testament Law was just another human ideology, people could laugh it off and continue on their merry way. But these moral truths cannot be ignored that easily. The truth is a strong irritant to the devil’s society and therefore so are the Jews who have preserved the Bible. Also hated are the Christians who keep these laws.
John 7:7, “The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it that its works are evil.”
John 15:10, 18-19, “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love… 18 If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”
The nation of Judah gave us Jesus Christ. Who gave the world Christ in a human sense? It was the nation of Judah. All the writers of the New Testament were Jewish. Christianity is a gift from the nation of Judah. The early church members were all Jewish except for a few proselytes to Judaism. I wonder how many nominal Christians know that.
Romans 11:1, “I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not!”
See Romans 11:1-5, 12, 15, 17-18 for a clearer view of how much God and Paul love the Jews. When Jesus condemned the Jewish leaders it is what we could call an inside-the-family criticism. You might strongly criticize your bad brothers but you would never be wanting all the rest of the world to hate them. The same with criticism of your own kids.
Matthew 23:37, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!”
ANTISEMITISM IS A BAROMETER MEASURING THE RISE OF PURE EVIL
Rising hatred of the Jews is like a canary in the mine warning of poisonous, unseen, odorless, dangerous gases. The rise of Antisemitism correlates with an increase in dangerous evils throughout the world. The most deadly period in human history was World War Two. It is estimated that between 50-70 million died in the war and its aftermath. The war was preceded by the growth of antisemitism that made the holocaust possible. People all over Europe cooperated in the dastardly endeavor. Note in John 4:22 that salvation knowledge then rested with the Jewish nation. God’s true church is a continuation of that salvation knowledge. In the future, when the world follows the Jews, then peace and prosperity will rain. See Zach. 8:23.
Can America continue to be blessed while we stab Judah in the back and threaten them if they try a too hard to destroy Hamas?
Pray for Israel and pray for America.
ISSUE
HOW BAD IS THE ANTISEMITISM IN THE WORLD AT THIS POINT?
