Anti-Semitism
by
R.B. Thieme, Jr.
Contents
Dedication
Prologue
Chapter
1
The
Middle East Crucible
Focus on the Middle East
Biblical Perspectives on the
Middle East Crisis
The Future Crisis in the
Middle East
The Current Crisis in the
Middle East
Chapter
2
The
Source of Anti-Semitism
Anti-Semitism
Defined
Historical
Perspectives of anti-Semitism
The
Angelic Conflict
The
Origin of the Jews
The
Clause Condemning anti-Semitism
Historical
Ramifications of anti-Semitism
Chapter
3
anti-Semitism
in Ancient History
The
Amalelates
Balaam’s
Curse on Israel
The
Assyrians
The
Rise of Assyria
The
Fall of Assyria
Syria,
Phoenicia, Philistia
The Syrians
The Phoenicians
Phoenician Decline
The End of Tyre .
The Philistines
Chapter
4
anti-Semitism in Modern History
Religious
Persecution
The Medieval Inquisition
The Spanish Inquisition
Prelude to Terror
Torquemada
Disaster for Spain
. The Rise and Decline of the British
Empire
The English Civil War
Victorian England
Britain and Zionism
. The Advance of Zionism in World War I
Zionism Between the Wars
. Zionism During and After World War II
The Dreyfus Affair in France
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich
Hitler’s
Beginnings
Hitler’s
Rise to Power
Consolidating
His Power
German
Life under Hitler
Hitler’s
Jewish Solution
Hitler’s
Demon Possession?
America
and anti-Semitism
anti-Semitism
and Conservative Politics
The
Solution to anti-Semitic Prejudice
anti-Semitic
Claims and Their Refutation
Khazar
Theory
Protocols
of the Elders of Zion
Impugning
Jewish Ethics
False
Teaching and anti-Semitism
The
Charge of Deicide
Covenant
versus Dispensational Theology
British
Israelitism
Chapter
5
The
Biblical View of anti-Semitism
The Author of anti-Semitism
Satanic Strategy to Hinder the Plan of
God
anti-Semitism and the Angelic Conflict
World Empires and anti-Semitism
Satan’s Ultimate Defeat
Anti-Semitism in the Future
The Great Tribulation
The Siege of Jerusalem, A.D. 70
Refuge from the Siege
Warfare in Heaven
Final Persecution of the Jews
Jerusalem
as Satan’s Trap
Satan
Lured to Jerusalem
Prelude
to Armageddon
Why
Armageddon?
Jerusalem as Satan’s Doom
Judgment of the Last anti-Semites
Chapter
6
The
Unique Jew
Three Kinds of Jews
Racial Israel
Religious Israel
Regenerate Israel
The Advantage of Being
a Jew
Israel’s Past
Israel’s Superiority
Israel’s Present
Israel’s Future
Chapter
7
Applying
Biblical Principles to anti-Semitism
The
Christian Attitude Toward the Jew
The
Wild Versus the Natural Branches
Guidelines
on Evaluating the Jew
Epilogue
___________________________________________________________________________________
Prologue
IN HIS SCHOLARLY BOOK Semites & anti-Semites, Bernard
Lewis presents three categories of hostility directed toward Jews. The first is
opposition to Israel as a nation, to her foreign policy, or to Zionism, as a
political and religious ideology, without necessarily being inspired by
prejudice. The second category is “normal” prejudice, which is often directed
against those of another tribe, another race, another faith, or from another
place. This second category includes the attitudes which majorities sometimes
adopt toward minorities. The third category of enmity portrays the Jew as the
root of virtually all evil in the world, engaged in an eternal and universal
conspiracy, to infiltrate, corrupt, and ultimately rule the gentile world. This
third category includes the desire of the anti-Semite to castigate, eliminate,
and finally to physically exterminate the Jew.’
Anti-Semitism was
originally published by R. B. Thieme, Jr., in 1974 as a warning against the
misguided, detestable, and anti Christian nature of the latter two categories
of antagonism toward Jews. People may legitimately differ with the foreign
policy of Israel or reject an individual Jew, as long as that disagreement or
rejection is not motivated by anti-Semitism. However, since the completion of
this book seventeen years ago, animosity against Jews has advanced well beyond
disagreement with the national aspirations of Israel or rejection of individual
Jews. The noxious forms of anti-Semitism have increased dramatically.
In
1975 the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution defining Zionism
as a “form of racism and racial discrimination.” Racism, the universal epithet
that conveys an inherent superiority of one race over another, was ironically
turned against the Jew. According to A. M. Rosenthal, the racism label has
since been used against the Jews by Israel-hating governments and anti-Semitic
officials around the world to spread fear and irrational hatred among their own
people.2
Since
established as a national entity in 1948, Israel has been forced into war,
compelled to fight or be driven into the sea. Throughout the 1980’s, however,
many Western governments have demanded that Israel conform to standards of
behavior appropriate to a nation at peace. Undoubtedly, these same nations if
faced with similar threats of annihilation would react not unlike Israel. In
fact, Charles Krauthammer notes that in less serious conflicts certain
countries have shown even less restraint toward their enemies than Israel now
displays toward the Palestinians.3 He cites as examples the British
during the Arab Revolt of 1936-39, the French in Algeria in the 1950’s, and
India’s repression of the Sikhs in 1984.
These
remarks describing Israel’s restraint are not cited to excuse actual misdeeds,
but to expose a double standard. Israel must comply with a norm of conduct that
other governments would not require of themselves. The hypocrisy of castigating
Israel for behavior that is acceptable to these nations in corresponding
circumstances betrays a discriminatory standard. The word for that
discrimination is anti-Semitism.4
The
world press spends a disproportionate amount of time scrutinizing Israel. Minor
skirmishes between Israel and her Arab neighbors are extensively reported,
while the war between Iraq and Iran, one of the bloodiest in this century with
over a million casualties, passed with far less attention.5 During
the 198990 Palestinian uprising, news services were quick to report any
Palestinian killed by Israelis. But the fact that more Palestinians have died
at the hands of their brother Palestinians than by the Israelis was buried on a
back page or ignored entirely.6
Bernard
Lewis observes that the Arab war against Israel has become generalized as a war
against all Jews. As proof he quotes excerpts from certain literature,
textbooks, and newspapers of Islamic and Arab nations which depict Jews
collectively as hostile, malevolent, subhuman.’ This is the traditional
stereotypical language of anti-Semitism. In addition, censorship by Arab
governments or by Arab journalists often eliminates any portrayal of Jews in a
favorable light.
Anti-Semitic
incidents, such as the promotion of Jewish conspiracy propaganda in Sweden by
“Radio Islam,” actual threats against Jews in Leningrad and Moscow, and attacks
on synagogues in Romania and France, are becoming commonplace. In Soviet Russia
the rise of nationalism parallels the rise of atavistic prejudice and is
creating fear among Russian Jews of a new pogrom. Even Poland and Hungary,
which had their Jewish populations exterminated in the Nazi Holocaust, are
exhibiting signs of rekindled anti-Semitism.
The
United States has not remained unaffected by the rise of anti-Semitism.
Pseudo-Christian groups called “Identity Churches,” which encompass the
Christian Defense League, Aryan Nations, Christian Patriots Defense League, and
certain elements of the Ku Klux Klan, are perpetuating the myth that Jews are
responsible for world problems. Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Black Muslim
group “Nation of Islam,” calls Judaism “a gutter religion” and declares Hitler
“a great man."8 The neo-Nazi “Skinhead” movement grows ever
more visible and vocal. At the same time, the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai
B’rith reports that anti-Semitic incidents in 1989, ranging from desecration to
murder, have reached their highest level in eleven years.’
Neither
the United States nor any other nation can afford anti-Semitism. The Scriptures
state that God curses those who curse Israel (Gen. 12:3), and that promise to
Israel from God remains immutable to this very day. God reserves the sovereign
right to punish the Jews for disobedience (Lev. 26:14-39; Deut. 28:15-68), but
throughout their history He has preserved this race of people because of His
promise (Gen. 12:1-3; cf. Lev. 26:44). Israel has a guaranteed national future
which no human or satanic machinations can destroy.
The
Jewish race was founded on the principle of belief in the promise of God (Gen.
15:6; cf., Rom. 4:1-5). Abraham, the father of the Jewish race, “believed in
the Lord; and He [God] reckoned it to him as righteousness.” The promise begins
with salvation by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ (Eph. 2:8-9).
This is the legacy of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and the challenge to the Jew in
every generation.
Jesus
Christ is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. To deny Him signifies rejection
of the spiritual heritage of the Jewish people and constitutes the underlying
cause of many catastrophes in Jewish history. The solution resides in
appropriating their own heritage through the work of Christ on the cross.
No
one, especially the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, should ever participate
in anti-Semitism. The believer must understand the historical and future plan
of God for Israel. Keeping the divine perspective in mind guards against any
form of anti-Semitism.10 The assimilation of divine perspective
comes from hearing and believing the message of the Bible. For this reason, I
find it imperative to revise and republish this biblical view of anti-Semitism.
BEFORE YOU BEGIN YOUR
BIBLE STUDY, be sure that, as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, you have
named your known sins privately to God (1 John 1:9). You will then be in
fellowship with God, under the control of the indwelling Holy Spirit, and ready
to learn doctrine from the Word of God.
If
you are an unbeliever, the issue is not naming your sins. The issue is faith in
Christ:
He who believes in the
Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey [the command to believe in] the
Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. (John 3:36)
1. Bernard Lewis, Semites & Anti-Semites (New York: W.
W. Norton & Co., 1986), pp. 20-23.
2. New York Times, 19 December 1989.
3. “Judging Israel,” Time, 26 February
1990, pp. 7778.
3. “Judging Israel.” Time,
26 February 1990, pp.77,78.
4. Krauthammer, “Judging Israel,” p. 78.
5. Lewis, Semites & anti-Semites, p. 13.
6. Krauthammer, “Judging Israel,” p. 78.
7. Lewis, Semites & anti-Semites, pp.
214-35.
8.
New York Times, 2 March 1990.
9. New
York Times, 20 January 1990.
10. See R. B. Thieme, Jr., The Divine Outline of History: Dispensations and the Church (Houston:
R. B. Thieme, Jr., Bible Ministries, 1989), pp. 27-37, 72-79.
Hereafter cross-references to my books will cite
only title, date of publication (in the first reference), and page(s).
1
The
Middle East Crucible
FOCUS ON THE
MIDDLE EAST
IN DECEMBER 1987, the
eyes of the world focused again on the troubled Middle East, where the
smoldering hatred of Palestinian Arabs for their Jewish half-brothers erupted
into full-scale rebellion. The Palestinians are demanding an independent and
separate state. The ultimate goal of the Palestinian organizations coincides
with the designs of their Arab sponsors. The objective is to eliminate the
Jewish state and establish an Arab nation in its place.”
The
very existence of Israel has been a constant source of irritation to the Arabs.
The series of defeats the Arabs have suffered since 1948 festers and demands
revenge — a final settlement of the dispute. The Palestinian revolt is a new
tactic in that ongoing conflict. Through maximum media exposure the Arabs hope
to demonstrate that the Jews are the oppressors, the source of Middle East
strife, a thorn in the side of the world.
As
the flames of war flicker and threaten to spread, the United States seeks a
peaceful settlement between these two historical adversaries. Americans, easily
deceived by peace overtures, believe — because we desperately wish to believe —
that this time some treaty will be binding. Yet we should learn from experience
that the signing of peace treaties does not guarantee an end to war. We fail to
realize that the antagonisms of the Middle East are intensely focused, with the
Arabs dedicated to driving Israel into the sea. Arab overtures of peace will
continue only as long as this objective is advanced.
The
lure of oil, the enormous untapped mineral assets, and the strategic importance
of the Middle East have also enticed the Soviet Union into the strife-torn
region. Soviet communism has cultivated Arab client nations for decades. Soviet
objectives to acquire access to vast Middle Eastern resources and manipulate
the politics of the region would not only supply their own industry with raw
material but would leave the oil-dependent Western democracies in desperate
straits.
Compounding
the peril, the Arabs are prime customers of the Soviet’s third largest export
industry — military arms. They owe Moscow billions from past deals and could
become the source for billions more in the future.12 Considering
current Soviet political and economic woes, the Soviet-Arab relationship is
crucial to Moscow. This entente aligns the Soviets against Israel.
At
the same time, Islamic nations of the Middle East have a long-standing paranoia
of encroachment upon their territory by Israel. With the regional development
of chemical and biological weapons, nuclear weapons, and long-range missiles
that can strike even the Soviet Union, tension has escalated. The mix of severe
instability and weapons of mass destruction point to a future cataclysm that
could easily involve both the Soviet Union and the United States.”
The
balance of power in the Middle East and the ever illusive “peace in our time”
hinge on the fate of Israel, that tiny nation of determined people. At least
this much can be said for the United States of America: Thus far, we have
supplied Israel with aid and overtly supported her cause. But that friendship
could erode as we become entangled with issues at home. Beset by political
scandals and economic crises, besieged with ultimatums from malcontents,
pressured to reduce our military force, will our leadership reflect the moral
courage and integrity to continue to back Israel?
Despite a growing euphoria over diminishing Soviet-American tension in the world, the threat of war persists. Probing questions arise over the continuing impasse. Would another Middle East war force the “Big Powers” into a major confrontation, possibly igniting World War III? Will the Israelis be able to hold out and assert themselves against a numerically stronger, better-equipped enemy? Would the need for oil force pro-Israeli nations into the Arab camp? Will a negotiated settlement work now, when it has failed in the past? Will the Middle East remain a potential powder keg, ready to blow up at the slightest provocation? Will increasing conflict prompt an intensified thrust of anti-Semitism? Can the Middle East problem be solved? If so, how? Let us consider these questions and determine some of the answers from the biblical point of view.
BIBLICAL PERSPECTIVES ON THE MIDDLE EAST CRISIS
We
live in unpredictable times, on the edge of a precipice. There is instability
abroad and at home. The news, which breaks with feverish rapidity, is often
gloomy or misinterpreted. But we need not despair. Even though the
circumstances of history shift constantly, the One who controls history — the
Lord Jesus Christ — is the “same yesterday, and today, yes and forever” (Heb.
13:8).
There
is no instability with God (James 1:17). His plan is perfect from its inception
to its conclusion. That plan unfolds as a sequence of divine administrations
called dispensations.’’ Since God has revealed to us in His Word information
pertinent to each dispensation, we can determine what the near and distant
future impact will be on world events (Dent. 29:29). The dispensational
interpretation of Scripture is the key to the correct understanding of current
and future conflicts in the Middle East and the role of the Jew in world
history.
THE FUTURE
CRISIS IN THE MIDDLE EAST
The
Bible so clearly defines the Middle East hostilities of the future as to rule
out all conjecture. But the Christian simply cannot superimpose future
conflicts on the present situation and assume that prophecy is being fulfilled
before his eyes. The Church Age is an era when there is no biblical prophecy to
be fulfilled.15
The
next prophetic event will be the Rapture or the removal of the Church from the
earth (1 Cor. 15:5155; Phil. 3:21; 1 Thess. 1:10; Rev. 3:10). The Rapture
includes the resurrection of all believers who have died during the Church Age.
Then those believers who are alive at that time will be caught up with the
newly resurrected believers to meet Christ in the air (1 Thess. 4:1318). The
Rapture terminates the Church Age and initiates the Tribulation.16
Unfortunately,
tumultuous world conditions encourage distortions of prophecy. Any similarities
between current circumstances and Tribulational events incite a glut of
speculation. The presence of a recognized Jewish state in Palestine and the
alignment of nations as foretold in Daniel 7 and 11 and Revelation 13, 16, and
17 do not signify that we are now experiencing the Tribulation or witnessing
the beginning of the Armageddon Campaign. This future military campaign will
actually occur at the end of the Tribulation as Christ returns to join in the
last battle and deliver the Jews.17
Regardless
of how long the present (Church) age continues, we can expect further periodic
outbreaks of hostilities, not only in the Middle East but also in other parts
of the world. Jesus Christ warned of wars and rumors of wars until He returns
(Matt 24:6). In spite of these persistent conflicts in the world His immutable
promise of a future return assures that human history will complete the full
dispensational course.
The
present Middle East crisis is but one of those wars the Lord referred to in
Matthew. Just as certainly the push to eradicate the Jews will persist. Satan
has sponsored antagonism toward the Jews throughout history, the current age
being no exception. However, Satan will initiate a period of unparalleled
anti-Semitism in the Tribulation (Rev. 12:17). His all-out effort will
culminate in that future day when four major power blocs will converge on
Israel in an attempt to utterly annihilate the Jews. Satan reasons that if no
Jews survive, God’s character will be impugned because His covenant Word to
Israel is proven false.18
To
understand the scenario for that future conflagration in the Middle East, we
must know the essence of prophecy concerning the resumption and course of
events in the final seven years of the Jewish dispensation. Two important
factors will herald the beginning of the Tribulation and accelerate Satan’s
offensive against the Jews.
1.
The removal of all believers from the earth at the Rapture of the Church (1
Thess. 4:13-18).
2. The removal of the restraining
ministry of the Holy Spirit (2 Thess. 2:6-7).
After
the Rapture the Tribulation commences with three-and-a-half years of power
politics in which four major spheres of influence will vie for world
domination. Palestine will be at the vortex of the struggle. Keep in mind that
no matter what political situation may exist, all directions in the Bible are
given in their relationship to Palestine.
Paralleling
this power struggle unprecedented evangelism will be conducted by one hundred
forty-four thousand Jewish evangelists whom God will seal and protect against
the anti-Semitic element during the entire Tribulation (Rev. 7:410). But in the
last three-and-a-half years of the Tribulation anti-Semitism and general
alienation toward the Jews will become so intense that the period is called the
“Great Tribulation” (Matt. 24:2122; Rev. 7:14; 12:17).
Early
in the first half of the Tribulation a ten nation federation will be arrayed in
the west with headquarters at Rome.19 An improbable alliance between
the gentile dictator of the Revived Roman Empire and “the false prophet” (Rev.
19:20; 20:10), the Jewish dictator of Palestine, will be consummated (Dan.
11:36-39). By the middle of the Tribulation the statue of the Roman dictator
(“abomination of desolation,” Dan. 12:11) will be erected in the restored
temple at Jerusalem.
The
three remaining spheres of influence in this apocalyptic drama will not
languish idly and allow their expectations for power to vanish. They plan an
offensive against the King of the West and the dictator of Palestine. This war
of wars will be launched by a simultaneous attack from the King of the South
and the King of the North (Dan. 11; cf., Ezek. 38-39). These forces will be
counterattacked by the King of the West and the Kings of the East (Dan. 11:44;
Rev. 16:12). But this final conflict cannot transpire until after the Rapture
of the Church.
THE
CURRENT CRISIS IN THE MIDDLE EAST
Should
the Rapture occur in the foreseeable future, then what we are now observing in
the Middle East is but the setting of the stage, the dress rehearsal for the
final curtain of Middle East conflicts. Under these circumstances, the King of
the North would indeed be the Soviet Union, and the King of the South would be
the united Arab states. The King of the West would be a federation of European
states and the Kings of the East (the kings of “the rising of the sun,” literal
translation of the term in Revelation 16:12) would be represented by the
Chinese communists and their allies. Mentioned prophetically in Scripture, each
power sphere of the Tribulation is intensely concentrated on the Middle East in
general and on Israel in particular. Each will be guilty of anti-Semitism.
Humanly
speaking, why should such a small nation with a people so few in number, who
wish only to be left in peace, cause such animosity among her neighbors, as
well as create such sensational controversy among the nations of the world? One
reason comes from the natural realm. Abraham is the father both of the Jewish
race through Isaac and of the Arab race through Ishmael. His progeny through
Ishmael are the traditional enemies of the Jews (Gen. 16:11-12). The principle
still exists that “Hagar’s son” — the son of Sarah’s slave girl — always
persecutes the “son of the freeborn” — Sarah’s son, Isaac, who was born by a
miracle of God’s grace (Gal. 4:23, 29; cf., 2 Tim. 3:12). The enmity between
the two peoples is illustrated by the Arab claim to the territory deeded by God
to the descendants of Isaac’s line.
The second reason for animosity toward the Jews comes from
the spiritual realm. The angelic conflict, that unseen warfare that continues
between God and Satan, involves Israel as a focal point
Although
the Arabs may find it expedient to pen their names to any number of peace pacts
with the Jews, like the devil who sponsors anti-Semitism, they will only depart
“until an opportune time” (Luke 4:13b) to
await a more favorable advantage for attack. The Jews know this and maintain
constant vigilance.
But
suppose the Arabs in a concerted effort were able to destroy the Jewish state.
They would gain little from dividing up that small strip of arid real estate.
Why, then, are they so intent on Israel’s destruction? The Bible resolves this
intriguing question by describing satanic strategy against the Jews and by
clearly demonstrating that no one tampers
with the Jews without terrible consequences. To their own detriment this is
a lesson that many a nation and many an individual have yet to learn.
God
made a solemn promise that Jews will always remain on the earth. If He will
preserve them in the Tribulation, the bleakest hour of their history, He will
never abandon them now. “For the Lord will not abandon His people [the Jews] on
account of His great name” (1 Sam. 12:22a).
Superficially,
all Middle East crises can be attributed to historical events; but below the
surface a more sinister reason prevails — the satanic influence on history.21
There is an evil that permeates not only the Middle East but the entire world.
Without understanding the nature of that evil and the extent of its pernicious
outreach, you will never unravel the complexities of historical trends. Nor
will you realize why the Jews have been singled out as the object of hatred,
the universal scapegoat. Nor why the Jews, more than any other race, have
experienced man’s inhumanity to man, or why anti-Semitism exists at all.
11. Lewis, Semites
& Anti-Semites, 18.
12.
Danielle Pletka, “Exodus A Godsend for Israel,” Insight 6 (21 May 1990): 21.
13. Ibid., 21.
14. A dispensation is a period in human history
defined in terms of divine revelation. See The
Divine Outline of History, 3-6. 15. Ibid., 135-38.
16. The Tribulation,
also called the “time of Jacob’s distress” (Jer. 30:7) and Daniel’s seventieth
week (Dan. 9:2427), is a period of seven literal years which complete the Age
of Israel. It is prophesied in the Old Testament (Isa. 34:1; 63:1; Ezek. 3839;
Dan. 11:4045; Zech. 12 and 14), in the Olivet Discourse of Jesus Christ (Matt.
24-25), and in Revelation 6-19. Old Testament saints will be resurrected at the
Second Advent of Christ immediately following the Tribulation (Dan. 12:2,
11-13). Ibid., 72-76.
17. /bid., 75.
18. The unconditional covenants are an
everlasting treaty into which God entered with Abraham and his bornagain
progeny (Gen. 17:7). The treaty consists of four separate paragraphs and
guarantees the Jews a future, a purpose, and a title deed to a land of their
own. Unconditional in nature, the treaty depends solely upon the character of
God for fulfillment. For an explanation of the four paragraphs given to Abraham
and his progeny see pages 133-34, below.
19. The ten nation
federation or “ten horns” of Daniel 7:78, 2324, Revelation 13:1-10 and 17:8-10,
is sometimes called the Revived Roman Empire. This kingdom is related to the
Roman Empire by Daniel’s vision of the “great statue” (Dan. 2:31-45). The five
major divisions of the statue represent five great gentile kingdoms beginning
with Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon (Dan. 2:38). The fifth kingdom, “the feet and toes of iron and clay,”
is a future extension of the fourth kingdom, “the legs of iron,” the Roman
Empire. The ruler of this federation (the King of the West) is referred to as
“the beast” (Rev. 13:12), the “little horn” (Dan. 7:8), the “prince that shall
come” (Dan. 9:26-27), the “god of fortresses” (Dan. 11:38), the “man of
lawlessness” (2 Thess. 2:3-10), and the “scarlet beast” (Rev. 17:3).
20. For an explanation
of the angelic conflict and how it affects Israel, see Chapter 2 and Chapter 5,
below.
21. See Demonism
(1974), 917.
2
The
Source of Anti-Semitism
ANTI-SEMITISM DEFINED
ANTI-SEMITISM IS
OPPOSITION TO, prejudice against, or intolerance of the Jewish people. However,
the term Semite encompasses much more than just the Jews. Jews are but one
branch of the Semitic peoples, which include the ancient Assyrians, Midianites,
Chaldeans, Moabites, Edomites, Ammonites, as well as the present Arabs,
Syrians, Armenians, a considerable portion of the people of Ethiopia, and of
the Middle East in general. To be accurate, therefore, anti-Semitism should be
defined as opposition to all Semites.
Yet
such is not the case. Jews alone are the target for anti-Semitism, which may
run the gamut from antipathy to violent hatred. Since most people understand
anti-Semitism to be the terrible evil of anti-Jewish sentiment and action which
has plagued history, I will continue to use the word in the dictionary sense to
refer only to the Jews.
HISTORICAL
PERSPECTIVES OF ANTI-SEMITISM
The venom that renders masses of people
susceptible to anti-Jewish agitation is more than fear, distrust, prejudice,
insecurity, or envy. This vicious hatred reflects the angelic conflict and Satan’s
subsequent machinations to defeat the plan of God.22 No matter how
non-spiritual he may be, the Jew is the center of a very real spiritual
warfare.
THE
ANGELIC CONFLICT
The angelic conflict originated before man
existed on the earth. This great warfare began when Lucifer, the anointed
cherub, the highest of all angelic creatures, challenged divine authority and
revolted against God (Isa. 14:13-14; Ezek. 28:12-15). By divine judgment,
Lucifer was removed from his exalted position and sentenced to eternal
condemnation, with the sentence to be executed in the future (Isa. 14:15; cf.,
Matt. 25:41).
If shock can be experienced in heaven, the
angels must have been stunned at the news of Lucifer’s fall. To think that
angelic volition could be expressed in rejection of grace! For all eternity the
lines were drawn which would divide the angels into two group — select and
fallen. What began in the arrogant mind of Lucifer had erupted into overt
angelic revolution. Lucifer became the adversary of God and successfully
persuaded one third of the angelic host to ally themselves with him in defiance
of God (Rev. 12:4). Thus, with Satan as the central antagonist, the angelic
conflict raged throughout the universe.
Human history is both the extension and resolution
of this heavenly conflict. Mankind was created to duplicate the conditions of
that prehistoric revolt.23 Like the angels, humanity was endowed
with free will and that free will would be tested to see whether man would
choose for or against God. Therefore, man came under the close scrutiny of both
the elect and the fallen angels (Job 2:13; Luke 15:7, 10).
Satan himself instigated the events that led
to man’s Fall. Adam followed the same pattern of arrogance which initiated the
angelic revolution. But Satan had not counted on the grace of God providing
salvation long before the need arose (1 Pet. 1:18-20). God did not desert man
just because he had failed the volitional test in the garden of Eden (Gen.
2:16-17). After the Fall He would test man again in the state of sinfulness by
offering salvation through faith in the coming Savior. Satan was present when
God enucleated Genesis 3:15.
And
I [God] will put enmity between you [Satan] and the woman, and between your
seed [unbelieving humanity] and her seed [the virgin-born Messiah]; He [the
Seed] shall bruise you on the head [Satan’s final doom], and you [Satan] shall
bruise Him (Messiah) on the heel (a reference to the cross). (Gen. 3:15).24
Although
detailed information concerning the person and the work of the Savior would be
revealed progressively, Satan instantly understood the identity of the Seed of
the woman. The arrival of the Savior would settle the angelic conflict in God’s
favor. To prevent God’s plan from unfolding, Satan (the fallen Lucifer)
designed a counter strategy. As a result, the devil motivated the first
recorded murder in human history (Gen. 4:8; cf., 1 John 3:12) in an effort to
eliminate the regenerate line through which Messiah would come.
Cain’s
murder of Abel set a precedent fraught with the danger of triggering a feud of
personal vengeance. God would use the law, as it existed in antediluvian times,
to keep the human race from self-destruction. He personally pronounced Cain’s
punishment (Gem. 4:9-15). Cain was barred from farming, the vocation he loved,
and was condemned to be “a vagrant and wanderer on the earth.”
Furthermore,
God reestablished the Savior’s line in the birth of Seth (Gen. 4:25). But Satan
never gives up. He struck again in an attempt to corrupt the entire human race
to make it impossible for the Savior to be born. The attack of the angelic
infiltration of the human race is recorded in Genesis 6.25 God’s
counterattack was the flood, which covered the earth and destroyed the Nephilim, preserving only Noah and his family.
All
this occurred long before a Jewish race existed. However, from the sons of Noah
God chose one branch of the family, the descendants of Shem, to represent Him
on earth and be custodians of His holy Word (Rom. 3:2). Through the line of
Shem Messiah would come (2 Sam. 7:8, 12; cf., John 4:22; Rom. 9:5). Satan then
concentrated on one man — Abraham; on one family — Jacob’s; on one nation —
Israel; on one race — the Jews.
THE ORIGIN OF
THE JEWS
The
Jewish race is unique in all history. God formed this people for the specific
purpose of being His instruments for the development and dissemination of His
Word. As Israel’s founder, God selected a man of pure Chaldean extraction. His
name was Abram, and he was the ninth in line from Shem. Semitic Abram was a
Gentile, just as the Arabs today are Semitic but Gentile.
In
those days long past there was no division of the earth’s population into
Gentiles and Jews. Such a dichotomy occurred later when Abram (renamed Abraham
by God, in Gen. 17:5) was circumcised at the age of ninety-nine to become the
father of the Jewish race. Until then there were only Gentiles of Hamitic,
Semitic, and Japhetic origin — but no Jews.
Abram
lived in Ur of the Chaldees (southern Babylonia) under a system of decadent
culture and totalitarian paganism. Convinced of the existence of God, he came
to know and believe in the Savior as He was then revealed (Gen. 15:6). Because
it was imperative that he be separated from his background and surroundings of
idolatry, the Lord said to Abram:
“Go forth from your
country, and from your relatives and from your father’s house, to the land
which I will show you.” (Gen. 12:1)
To
that command of separation, God added five distinct promises. These are listed
in Genesis 12:
1.
“I will make you a great nation” (v. 2).
2.
“I will bless you” (v. 2).
3.
“And make your name great” (v. 2).
4.
“And so you shall be a blessing” (v. 2).
5.
“In you [a Messianic reference] all the families of the earth shall be blessed”
(v. 3).
It
is doubtful that Abram realized the full extent of God’s promise concerning
himself and his progeny since prophecy often has a near and far fulfillment.
But clearly, the first prophetic promise God made to Abram revealed the founder
and foundation of the Jewish race and augured great national blessings for the
future. The second promise provided personal blessings for the patriarch,
particularly once he reached spiritual maturity. The next two promises
indicated the very structure of Abraham’s life, and the last paragraph
concerned the Seed of Abraham — Jesus Christ (Gal. 3:8-9, 16).
From
time to time God would reiterate and amplify the various paragraphs of the
everlasting treaty which He had made with Abraham and his progeny, a treaty
which is called the Abrahamic Covenant.26 The covenant guarantees
the new race a future, a purpose, and a title deed to a land of their own.
Bear in mind that descent from Abraham does not automatically qualify one as a recipient of the unconditional covenants.
For
they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel; neither are they all
children because they are Abraham’s descendants, but: “Through Isaac your
descendants will be named.” That is, it is not the children of the flesh who
are children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded as
descendants. (Rom. 9:6b-8)
Both Jacob and Esau
were grandsons of Abraham, but God did not look on them with equal favor.
“Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated” (Rom. 9:13b; cf., Mal. 1:23). Jacob
received the blessing because he was regenerate, a child of God through
spiritual birth.27 Clearly, Jewish ancestry was not the only
criterion for transmission of the divine promises on which Israel was founded.
The spiritual birth of the physical progeny of Abraham was essential for
gaining access to the divine promises.
Therefore,
the real foundation of the Jewish race is regeneration. Abraham was born again
(Rom. 4:15; cf., John 3:3-7, 16). He exhibited faith in the promise of God and
God gave to Abraham what he could never merit on his own. Isaac and Jacob also
believed, Esau did not. In the formation of true Israel the racial Jew must
become the regenerate Jew.
THE CLAUSE CONDEMNING ANTI-SEMITISM
If
Abraham failed to grasp the full significance of God’s prophetic declaration, Satan
did not, and he plotted accordingly. Since God was intent on establishing and
blessing the Abrahamic line, then Satan had to attempt to destroy that line.
To
countermand Satan’s evil design against the promised new race, God affixed a
blessing and cursing clause to the Abrahamic
Covenant. The clause vouched for sustained divine provision, protection, and
preservation of Jews in every generation. God had served notice that the Jew
will survive human history.
Unlike
the first two paragraphs of the Abrahamic Covenant, the anti-Semitism clause
applies fully to the unregenerate as well as the regenerate Jew. The race must
endure to enter the Tribulation. This is that future time in which all
believers of the Church are removed and God is again dealing with Israel as a
nation. Unregenerate Jews who subsequently accept Christ as Savior during that
seven-year period (Zech. 12:10-13:9) will constitute the final remnant. They
will participate in the complete fulfillment of the unconditional covenants
when Christ returns at the end of the Tribulation (Matt. 24:27-31)28
The
anti-Semitism clause reads:
And I (God) will bless
those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse. (Gen. 12:3)
Genesis 12:3 is by no
means the only statement of divine approval of pro-Semitism and divine
condemnation of anti-Semitism. Other affirmations are given in principle and
fulfillment throughout the Bible. To cite but two examples: The Lord blessed
the house of Potiphar, the Egyptian, for Joseph’s sake (Gen. 39:5) but judged
Egypt for enslaving the Jews (Gen. 15:13-14). While He prospered Cyrus, King of
Persia, for his attitude toward captive Judah (Ezra 1:l-4), God executed wicked
Haman and all who sought to exterminate the Jews during the reign of Xerxes
(Esth. 3:5-6, 13; 6:10-9:15).
Thus, a correlation exists between the rise and fall of
individuals, nations, and empires and their attitude toward the Jew. The clause
first presented in Genesis 12:3 serves as a warning not only to Satan and his
demonic hordes but to all mankind. God will bless all who bless the Jews and
punish all who seek their destruction.
The blessing and cursing clause also has implications for the Jewish race in the future. The principle is stated in Hebrews.
For those whom the
Lord loves He disciplines, and He scourges [skins alive with a whip] every son
whom He receives. (Heb. 12:6; cf., Prov. 3:12)
God’s
love for the people He had chosen to represent Him on earth during the Age of
the Jews remains constant and unchangeable. He keeps His covenant to Israel
(Deut. 7:7-9), even if they fail Him.
Divine love is expressed in many ways — in blessing or
discipline. When His people fail, God metes out the appropriate punishment.
Remember discipline and judgment are a divine prerogative. God reserves the
exclusive right to handle His own affairs. Any person or nation who gets
between God who holds the whip and the one on whom punishment is about to
descend receives the brunt of the lash. Be warned! Stay out of the way of
divine discipline especially where the Jews are concerned!
God feels strongly about the Jews — so strongly, in fact,
that He refers to them as the “apple [pupil] of His eye” (Deut. 32:10; Ps.
17:8; Prov. 7:2; Zech. 2:8). The pupil is one of the most protected parts of the
human anatomy. The frontal bone structure of the face guards the recessed pupil
from potential injury; the brows and lashes screen out dust; the eyelids shield
the pupil from the harmful glare of light; and the tear ducts wash away smudge
and dirt. Likewise, divine intervention protects the Jews from the devastating
blows of anti-Semitism. In other words, God Himself ensures that the Jews
cannot be abused with impunity.
HISTORICAL
RAMIFICATIONS OF ANTI-SEMITISM
The divinely established clause against anti-Semitism
remains in force throughout history. God has promised Israel a future as a
nation. Thus, He will continue to deliver the Jew until the end of time.
Wherever
anti-Semitism prevails, the people involved are underwriting their own
destruction. No individual or nation ever survives anti-Semitism; they destroy
themselves. I will demonstrate in the next two chapters that nations reach
their zenith because of their kindly treatment of the Jews, and that equally
powerful nations decline because of their persecution of the Jews.
The outworking of this
principle is recognized in the Encyclopaedia
Britannica.
It is a
noteworthy fact of history that great conquerors, Alexander, Caesar, and
Napoleon, have always treated the Jews well: they recognized their religious
function and sought to give it freedom to develop, for their own advantage as
well as that of the Jews. On the other hand, lesser men, endowed with narrower
outlooks, have failed to recognize the Jew and have sought to crush him. In
their desire to impose an artificial uniformity, they `broke down the
boundaries of people and put down the inhabitants’ (Isa. 10:13). But such
Procrustean methods are contrary to nature, and tyranny, whether towards Jews
or towards any others, has never secured permanent results. The same policy of
religious unification has characterized subsequent dynasties, from the
Assyrians to the Romanovs, and the same fate has overtaken them. The Jew has
survived their disappearance.30
22.
The angelic conflict refers to prehistoric angelic opposition to God (2 Pet.
2:4; Jude 6) that continues as spiritual warfare in human history (1 Pet. 5:8;
cf., Eph. 6:1017).
23.
See Christian Integrity (1990), 66-68.
24.
Scriptures cited in this book are from the New American Standard Bible (NASB).
Bracketed commentary further explains the quotation or reflects exegesis from
Bible class lectures. Tape recordings of Bible classes are available on request
from R. B. Thieme, Jr., Bible Ministries, Houston, Texas.
25. The intermarriage
of fallen angels, “sons of God” (Gen. 6:2), and “the daughters of men” produced
a super race, “Nephilim” (v. 4). Eventually, if left to continue, the
cohabiting fallen angels would have entirely reduced the human race to part
angel-part man, a corruption that would have made the advent of Messiah
impossible. See Victorious Proclamation (1977), 6-9.
26. The other
unconditional covenants are essentially reiterations of the Abrahamic Covenant.
See footnote 18, page 6, above.
27. Spiritual birth designates
the judicial imputation of eternal life that occurs by grace through faith in
the person of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. Abraham (Gen. 15:6) and Nicodemus
(John 3:1-16) are clear examples of men who are “born again.”
28. Christ returns to
deliver the Jews (Isa. 10:20-23; 11:1116; 14:13; Joel 2:163:21; Zech. 10:6-12)
and to establish His kingdom which is called the Millennium (Ps. 72; Isa. 11,
35, 62, 65; Zech. 14:49; Rev. 20). See The
Divine Outline of History, 75-79.
29. Christian Suffering (1987), 28-53.
30.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 14th ed., s.v. “Jews: ”
3
Anti-Semitism
m Ancient History
THE AMALEKITES
THE JEWS HAVE MET WITH
PERSONAL ANTAGONISM since the founding of the race. But while they experienced oppression
on a grand scale in Egypt, they had yet to encounter anti-Semitism as a nation.
The first instance occurred shortly after the Exodus when God used Moses to
bring the Jews out of Egyptian slavery. The account is described by these terse
words: “Then Amalek came and fought against Israel at Rephidim” (Ex. 17:8). The
attack was treacherous and completely unprovoked, directed against the Jewish
stragglers — the rear guard — as they journeyed through the wilderness.
Thought
to be the progeny of Esau (Gen. 36:12), the Amalekites existed in the days of
Abraham (Gen. 14:7). Although they figured prominently in the Old Testament,
they have since vanished from history. Archaeologists, despite a diligent
search, have failed to unearth even a vestige of this ancient people. Why? The
Amalekites hold the dubious honor of being “the first of the nations” to wage
war against the newly chartered Jewish nation (Num. 24:20). The assault
guaranteed their doom as God announced, “I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek
from under heaven” (Ex. 17:14b).
The
Israelites were to be the appointed executioners of the Amalekites (Deut.
25:1719; 1 Sam. 15:3, 18), but God knew they would fail to carry out His
sentence (1 Sam. 28:18-19). How much suffering and oppression the Jews could
have spared themselves had they obeyed God’s mandate promptly and completely!
But since Amalek would continue to be Israel’s bitter foe, God swore that “the
Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation” (Ex. 17:16). The
Jews would continue to be victimized time and again by Amalekite aggression
(Judges 3:12-13; 10:12; 1 Sam. 15:3ff; 30:1).
During
the time of the Judges, the Israelites found themselves repeatedly under the
heel of the Amalekites. Saul, Israel’s first king, sent by God on a mission to
annihilate this scourge, was to rue the day he spared Agag, the king of Amalek,
as well as the “best” of the spoils (1 Sam. 15:15, 18-19, 26). Saul was set
aside for insubordination to God’s Word and eventually died the sin unto death (maximum
discipline for the believer in time, 1 Chron. 10:1314). Adding insult to
injury, an Amalekite opportunist robbed Saul of his crown tend armband,
intending to capitalize on his death (2 Sam. 1).
Throughout
his reign, David pursued the Amalekites. Yet they were not completely
eradicated until the days of Hezekiah (1 Chron. 4:39-43) when the curse of
Genesis 12:3 was fulfilled to the letter. God never goes back on His Word.
BALAAM’S CURSE ON
ISRAEL
That
God keeps His word was precisely what Balaam had in mind when he stood on the
mountain top and pronounced blessing instead of cursing on Israel:
God is not a man, that
He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has He said, and will
He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?
Behold, I have
received a command to bless; when He has blessed, then I cannot revoke it.
(Num. 23:19-20)
The
man who spoke these words was famed for his divinations and imprecations. Indeed,
his name meant “destroyer of the people.” Though he knew the Lord (Num. 22:8,
13, 19, 38), he lived in a state of reversionism31 and, if the price
was right, he could be persuaded to dabble in wizardry, regardless of God’s
prohibition.
The
price was right when Balak, the king of the Moabites, sent for Balaam to cast a
spell on the approaching Israelites (Num. 22:17). But try as he might, Balaam
had not been able to pronounce the curse. God restrained him (Num. 22:12).
Instead, Balaam explained to the frustrated king:
How shall I curse,
whom God has not cursed? And how can I denounce, whom the Lord has not
denounced? (Num. 23:8).
Balaam
was convinced that further enchantments against the Jews would be useless and
displeasing to God (Num. 24:1). His attitude indicates that he had acknowledged
his sins (Ps. 32:5). Once back in fellowship with God, the future of Israel was
opened before his eyes (Num. 24:39, 15-19, 21-24). Inspired by the Holy Spirit,
Balaam shouted a reiteration of the anti-Semitism clause of the Abrahamic
Covenant:
Blessed is everyone
who blesses you [Israel], and cursed is everyone who curses you. (Num. 24:9b)
When
Balaam’s vision ended he faced a furious Balak. Balaam now realized that the
wealth, honor, and promotion promised by the Moabite king had slipped through
his fingers. What had he done? He had ruined his career for the sake of those
Jews.
Materialism
lust and power lust had overwhelmed Balaam (2 Pet. 2:15; Jude 11). Maybe there
was some way he could extricate himself and still come out ahead. He had an
idea: If the Jews could be lured into fornicating with the women of Midian,
they would bring on their own cursing. Balaam’s advice was followed (Rev.
2:14). As a result, twenty-four thousand Israelites succumbed to the temptation.
They came under the sin unto death and perished (Num. 25:9).
As
for Balaam, in bringing about the curse in an indirect manner, he placed
himself in direct line for punishment. When God’s judgment struck the
Midianites, Balaam was slain with the sword (Num. 31:8). He had foreseen the
doom of those who would curse Israel. His involvement brought him under the
same curse.
THE ASSYRIANS
Another classic example of anti-Semitism is the case of the Assyrians. One of the greatest empires in the ancient world, Assyria possessed every ingredient essential for maintaining a vigorous and powerful supremacy. Yet Assyria was completely humbled at the height of glory.
THE RISE OF
ASSYRIA
The
most striking feature of Assyria was military power. A series of victories
expanded the borders of the empire, extending Assyrian hegemony over much of
the known world. The superbly trained Assyrian army remained undefeated for two
hundred years. Egypt was neutralized and the Hittites conquered. With the
assimilation of their embryonic iron industry, Assyria was able to compete with
the Phoenicians for the monopoly of the iron market. Assyria became a leading
smelter and distributor of iron implements and weapons for the ancient world.
But
Assyrians could boast of more than military success. The combination of a
system of free enterprise and profitable trading markets created thriving
commerce and a dynamic economy.
Over
the decades, the names of Tiglath-Pileser III, Shalmaneser V, Sargon, Sennacherib,
and Esar-Haddon were
synonymous
with conquest and cruelty. Their names struck a chord of
fear and awe throughout the ancient world. Yet, not until the reign of
Esar-Haddon’s son, Assurbanipal, did Assyria reach the peak of splendor,
luxury, and decadence that foreshadowed the approaching disintegration of the
empire.
The
decline of this great empire was inevitable for a number of reasons. The
Assyrians had begun to consider themselves invincible. They abused their
strength. Impressed with their indisputable magnificence and wealth, they
succumbed to apostasy.
As
if that were not enough, the Assyrians themselves — a Semitic people — embarked
on a policy of anti-Semitism. That alone would lead to disaster (Gen. 12:3;
cf., Isa. 33:14). True, they recovered briefly as a result of Jonah’s ministry
in 754 B.C. when Nineveh, the Assyrian capital, experienced a tremendous
spiritual awakening and conversion (Jonah 3:8-10). Divine judgment was
temporarily averted.
In
the following nine critical years under a decadent monarchy, a pivotal group of
believers positive to God’s Word held the nation together. The turning point
came in 745 B.C., when an unknown palace gardener usurped the throne and
assumed the royal name of Tiglath-Pileser III.
During
his reign (745-727 B.C. ), Assyria was once again in ascendancy. By his genius,
despite occasional ruthlessness, Tiglath-Pileser established a stable
governmental structure not only in Assyria but also in conquered territories.
But his masterful rule would not last.
By
739 B.C. the Assyrian armies threatened Judah. Subsequently, a policy of
anti-Semitism persisted in one form or another — from exacting tribute to
demanding exorbitant bribes, from deportations of hostages to outright conquest
and plunder.
History
records that Assyria’s constant warfare eventually ruined the economy.
Financing unnecessary military campaigns, extravagant expenditures on royal
pleasures and superfluous building programs finally depleted the empire’s
resources. These excesses contributed to a rapid decline, but the predominant
reason for the Assyrian downfall was anti-Semitism.
THE FALL OF ASSYRIA
The
Bible reports how God dealt a deadly blow to Assyrian anti-Semitism in the
reign of King Hezekiah (701 B.C.). Assyria had again invaded Judah and
Jerusalem was next on the agenda for conquest. In an awesome display of power
and armed might the army of the Assyrian empire massed outside the city walls
and rattled its collective sabers.
The
Rabshakeh, commander in chief of the army, arrogantly demanded the
unconditional surrender of Jerusalem. Concurrently, he blasted the population
with pernicious propaganda and blatantly challenged the God of Israel. Isaiah
records his taunts.
“Who
among all the gods of these lands [already conquered] have delivered their land
from my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem from my hand?” (Isa.
36:20).
If
the Rabshakeh expected the white flag of surrender to be raised, he was in for
a disappointment. Isaiah’s faithful teaching of God’s Word made the difference.
The believing remnant fearlessly stood their ground and answered the challenge
with unflinching silence (Isa. 36:21). These believers remained courageous in
spite of the defeatist attitude of their leaders (Isa. 37:13). They firmly
believed that God would deliver them and His city.
Little
did the Rabshakeh suspect how soon he would have to swallow his words, nor did
Sennacherib, the king, realize that he had sealed his own doom by pursuing a
path of anti-Semitism. God was already in the process of honoring His Word and
the faith of His people. A divine communique was dispatched to the king of
Judah via the prophet Isaiah: God would personally intervene for the Jews (Isa.
10:12; cf., 37:67, 28-29, 33-35). The reckoning came at dawn, shortly before the
troops were to muster for roll call:
Then the angel of the
Lord went out, and struck 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians; and when men
[the Israelites] arose early in the morning, behold, all of them [the
Assyrians] were dead bodies. (Isa. 37:36)
A
sweeping pictorial account of this spectacular event was captured by the great
baroque painter, Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640), who depicted with some artistic
license the last gasp of Assyrian might in his epic masterpiece, The Defeat of Sennacherib. With his army
decimated by the Lord Himself, Sennacherib was forced to retreat in humiliation
to Nineveh (2 Chron. 32:21; Isa. 37:37). Shortly thereafter, true to Isaiah’s
prophecy, he was murdered by two of his sons while engaged in idolatry (Isa.
37:38). Still, Assyria failed to heed the warning. A continuing course of
anti-Semitism paralleled the steady decline of the empire.
The
end came in 612 B.C. with startling
suddenness. Cyaxares, the king of the Medes, and Nabopolassar, then ruler of
Babylon, joined forces with the Scythians to take Nineveh. Launching a surprise
attack, the Medes descended from the Iranian Plateau; the Chaldeans came across
the Tigris-Euphrates Valley; and out of the north, from the direction of the
Caspian Sea, swept the Scythians. The capture of Nineveh marked the total
collapse of the empire.
Within three short months, Assyria, which could trace her
beginning to the third millennium B.C., ceased
to exist. God’s Word was vindicated. “Behold, I am against you,” the Lord of
hosts proclaimed against Assyria, as well as all anti-Semites. The third
chapter of the Book of Nahum describes the fall of Nineveh. In fact, so
completely did the curse of Genesis 12:3 come to pass that no trace of the
Assyrians remains to this day. But the Jews survive!
This amazing fact of secular history, entwined with divine
revelation, is documented in The
Cambridge Ancient History.
The
disappearance of the Assyrian people will always remain an unique and striking
phenomenon in ancient history. Other, similar, kingdoms and empires have indeed
passed away, but the people have lived on. Recent discoveries have, it is true,
shown that poverty-stricken communities perpetuated the old Assyrian names at
various places, for instance on the ruined site of Ashur, for many centuries,
but the essential truth remains the same. A nation which had existed two
thousand years and had ruled a wide area, lost its independent character. To
account for this two considerations may be urged. First, even in lands where,
as Gibbon has remarked, the people are of a libidinous complexion, the
Assyrians seem to have been unduly devoted to practices which can only end in
racial suicide . . . No other land seems to have been sacked and pillaged so
completely as was Assyria; no other people, unless it be Israel, was ever so
completely enslaved.
In
another way the fall of Assyria is unique, in that after centuries of military
domination in Mesopotamia, and after decades of imperial power, it is almost
impossible for the modern historian surely to trace any lasting Assyrian
influence on the history of succeeding ages.32
SYRIA, PHOENICIA, PHILISTIA
At
a time when the Jews were completing the reconstruction of the Temple in
Jerusalem, the “crushing weight of judgment” was prophesied by Zechariah in 518
B.C. against three anti-Semitic nations. The Jews had encountered vicious
opposition during their first attempt to rebuild this sacred place that would
embody and represent their whole realm of theology.
Discouragement,
constant intimidation, misrepresentation of the facts to the Persian monarch,
Artaxerxes, had disrupted the building program for fourteen years (Ezra
4:1124). Then God raised up Zechariah who prophesied that God would preserve
the remnant of His people from the gentile oppression that threatened their
extinction. The message was one of confidence in the deliverance of the Lord.
Construction resumed and the Temple was finished in 516 B.C.
From 516 to 323 B.C., the Jews would enjoy their “golden
age,” ultimately brought about by maximum dissemination and perception of Bible
doctrine, and obedience to God’s Word. Such prosperity, however, would arouse
envy among the Syrians, Phoenicians, and Philistines who were all potentially
anti-Semitic. Zechariah foretold how one hundred and eighty years later these
anti-Semitic nations would be obliterated (Zech. 9:1ff).
THE SYRIANS
Another
branch of Semitic people, the Syrians, descended from Shem’s youngest son Aram
(Gen. 10:22), brought God’s judgment upon themselves by their hostile attitude toward
the Jews. Zechariah’s prophecy would affect three city-states in Syria:
Hadrach, Damascus, and Hamath.
The
burden [a crushing weight of judgment] of the word of the Lord is against the
land of Hadrach, with Damascus as its resting place (for the eyes of men,
especially of all the tribes of Israel, are toward the Lord), and Hamath also,
which borders on it; Tyre and Sidon, though they are very wise. (Zech. 9:12)
Hadrach was the
northern most city-state. Located on the Orontes, to the south of Hamath and
north of Damascus, the land is mentioned in Assyrian monuments under the name
Hatarrika. To the south lay Aram-Dammasek, the “Syria of Damascus” of Second
Samuel 8:56. Damascus owed its economic stability and prominence to the fertile
valley of the Abana and to placement along the important trade and military
routes of the ancient world. Hamath, bordering on Hadrach and Damascus, was the
capital of Upper Syria.
During her turbulent history, Syria engaged in frequent but
mostly unsuccessful warfare with Israel and Judah in the days of the monarchy.
Syria vied with Egypt over possession and control of the land that God had
promised the Jews. As a result animosity between the Jews and Syrians remained
deep-rooted. Then, as now, Syria “has planned evil” against Israel, for which
punitive action from God is the inevitable result (Isa. 7:57).
The
crushing weight of judgment Zechariah had predicted smashed Syria in the year
332 B.C., shortly after Alexander the Great soundly routed the army of Persian
king Darius III
at Issus. Hadrach and Hamath fell prey to the conquering Macedonian army, while
Damascus, then the provincial capital of the Persian Empire, capitulated
without a struggle. Alexander was now in full command of Syria. In Alexander,
the Jews found a staunch ally and admirer. For a time Jewish troubles ceased.
THE PHOENICIANS
The
Phoenicians were the Hamitic inhabitants of Tyre, Sidon, and Carthage. They
called themselves the Canaanites and were foremost among traders and seafarers,
the explorers of antiquity — merchants to the ancient world. But the
Phoenicians were also known for their worship of Baal and their practice of the
phallic cult.33 Israel was greatly influenced and severely punished for
following Canaanite religious practices at the time of King Ahab (Ahab’s wife,
Jezebel, was a Sidonian, 1 Kings 16:31-33), as well as during the reign of King
Jehoram of Judah.
Tyre
exemplifies the Phoenicians. This city was one of the most prominent and
perhaps the wealthiest in the ancient world. Strongly fortified, this island
municipality was located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. Immense
walls one hundred and fifty feet high and a hundred feet wide made Tyre a
veritable citadel. On top of those walls the Tyrians loved to race their chariots.
PHOENICIAN DECLINE. For trade purposes,
Israel established friendly relations with Tyre during David’s reign.
Apparently these were maintained even in the divided kingdom. Then in 842 B.C.
the Philistines and Arabs attacked Judah with disastrous results for the Jews
(2 Chron. 21:16-17). This military defeat was divine discipline for Israel’s
continued association with the phallic cult. Sometimes God must use evil
nations to shock His people into awareness of and recovery from their
persistent reversionism.
But
the Philistines overstepped divine boundaries. In their ingrained hatred for
the Jews, they persecuted and oppressed their Jewish captives consigning them
to brutal slavery. They embraced a national policy of anti-Semitism.
Then
the Phoenicians entered the scene. Motivated by the possibility of further
enrichment for themselves, the Phoenicians capitalized on the misfortune of the
Jews. After joining the Philistines in the plunder of Jerusalem and Judah, they
bought and sold Jewish captives to the Greeks (Ezek. 27:13; cf., Joel 3:48).
The prophet Joel harshly denounced the Phoenicians for this cruelty and
declared God’s judgment on them for their anti-Semitism.
Moreover,
what are you to Me, O Tyre, Sidon, and all the regions of Philistia? Are you rendering
Me a recompense? But if you do recompense Me, swiftly and speedily I will
return your recompense or. your head. (Joel 3:4)
Three
hundred years before the destruction actually happened, Ezekiel predicted the fall
of Tyre with divinely inspired accuracy and detail. The prophecy is found in
Ezekiel 26:
Because
Tyre has said concerning Jerusalem, Aha, the gateway of the peoples is broken
.… I shall be filled, now that she is laid waste, therefore, thus says the Lord
God . . . I will bring up many nations against you .… And they will destroy the
walls of Tyre, and break down her towers; and I will scrape her debris from her
and make her a bare rock. She will be a place for the spreading of nets . . .
she will become spoil for the nations . . . . I will bring upon Tyre from the
north Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, king of kings .… He will slay your
daughters on the mainland with the sword; and he will make siege walls against
you, cast up a mound against you . . . battering rams he will direct against
your walls . . . . Also they will make spoil of your riches . . . and throw
your stones and your timbers and your debris into the water . . . . You will be
built no more. (excerpts from Ezek. 26:2-14)
The
proud city, which once boasted of possessing silver like dust and gold like the
mud in the streets (Zech. 9:3), withstood Nebuchadnezzar’s siege for nearly
thirteen long years (585-573 B.C.). But in the end the king of Babylon
triumphed, demolishing the great walls and towers, leaving Tyre in ruins. The
prophecy had been partially fulfilled, but the coup de grace was not to come until July 332 B.C.
THE END of TYRE. Alexander the Great,
whose mighty legions had conquered the world, reached Tyre and demanded that
the city open its gates. Tyre refused. Alexander then devised a brilliant
strategy to take the city by force. He would build a causeway from the mainland
to the heavily fortified municipality.
The
undertaking was immense. Alexander’s army labored, taking the stones, the
timber, and the very dust of the city Nebuchadnezzar had left in rubble and
literally “threw the debris into the water (sea).” By filling in the bay, an
isthmus was formed between the mainland and the city. Seven months later the
causeway was completed, and Alexander’s troops marched across. They defeated
the Tyrian fleet, sacked the city, and burned it to the ground. Every detail of
God’s verdict had been carried out (Zech. 9:4), even to the forecast that Tyre
would never be rebuilt to its former glory.
However, the area of Tyre was still inhabited in our Lord’s
day. On one of His visits there, He healed the daughter of a Syrophoenician
woman (Mark 7:24-30) a rare case of conversion to Christ recorded among the
Phoenicians. Paul, too, stopped there for a week to fellowship in the Word with
a group of believers (Acts 21:36).
Tyre
was captured by the Muslims in A. D. 638. The city fell to the Crusaders in
1124, only to be recaptured and destroyed by the Muslims in 1291. Now a
peninsula, Tyre is a town of no importance. A few thousand poor Persians and
Arabs live in shabby hovels, and some Syrian fishermen “spread their nets.” But
the magnificence and fame of Tyre have vanished forever, gone the way of all
nations who become anti-Semitic.
THE PHILISTINES
If ever there were a people whose name spelled trouble for
the Jews, it was the Philistines. Their very existence and warlike nature,
spiked by intense hatred of the Jews, constantly threatened the safety and
survival of Israel. Who were these people, and from whence had they come?
The Philistines were non-Semitic, blond, blue-eyed Greeks.
The descendants of Caphtor (Gen. 10:14), they are believed to have originated
in Crete. They were a group of the sea peoples of the Mycenean civilization
which was uprooted by the Dorians, another branch of Greeks. They had
eventually settled in the southwestern region of the land God had deeded to the
Jews. That conquered territory came to be known as Philistia — the land of the
Philistines — and later as Palestine.
The Philistines worshipped the fish god Dagon (1 Sam.
5:1-4), the fertility goddess Ashtaroth (1 Sam. 31:10), and Baalzebub, chief
god of Ekron (2 Kings 1:2ff). Like other Greeks, they occasionally offered
human sacrifices, were generally degenerate, and frequently demon possessed.
They lived in opposition to Yahweh, the
God of Israel.
Originally the governmental power of Philistia was vested in
the lords of the Pentapolis (five city states): Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Ekron,
and Gath. The Philistines, hoping to dominate Israel, conducted frequent
hit-and-run raids during the time of the Judges. Philistine victories were
largely because of their superior weapons and their
strict embargo against iron weapons for the Israelites
(1 Sam. 13:19-22).
The
Old Testament is replete with instances of Philistine antagonism toward the
Jews. Nearly every child knows about Goliath, the gigantic challenger from Gath
who dared defy the armies of the living God and met his death at the hand of a
mere youth — David. Gaza, a disputed area in the present struggle of the
Israelis and the Arabs, was the scene of Samson’s famed exploits, humiliation,
and victorious death. The Philistines contended for the very land God promised
to Israel (Josh. 13:1-2), just as Palestinians do today.
In
foretelling the fall of Tyre, Zechariah made reference to the subsequent
judgment of Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and Ashdod. Gath was not included for
judgment having long since been captured by Hazael, king of Syria (2 Kings
12:17). The prophecy reads:
Ashkelon will see it
[the fall of Tyre] and be afraid [they surrendered]. Gaza too will writhe in
great pain (Gaza resisted and was besieged by Alexander for five months); also
Ekron, for her expectation has been confounded [expected to be delivered but
went into slavery instead]. Moreover, the king will perish from Gaza, and
Ashkelon will not be inhabited [by the Philistines]. And a mongrel race
[foreign people] will dwell in Ashdod, and I [God] will cut off the pride of
the Philistines. And I will remove their blood [human sacrifices] from their
mouth, and their detestable things from between their teeth. Then they also
will be a remnant for our God [evangelism after disaster wins converts among
the survivors], and be like a clan in Judah, and Ekron like a Jebusite [the
original inhabitants of Jerusalem, then called Jebus]. (Zech. 9:5-7)
This prophecy too was fulfilled. The Philistines as a race
were cut off. The only ones to outlive the destruction of their cities were
those who believed in the promised Messiah and appreciated the Jews as the
chosen nation from which Messiah would come.
31. Reversionism is
recession from any stage of spiritual growth through carnality (perpetuating
unconfessed sin in the life) or negative volition to God’s Word. Reversionism
does not imply loss of salvation. For more information you may request
tape-recorded lessons available from R. B. Thieme, Jr., Bible Ministries,
Houston, Texas. See also Demonism (1974),
84-89.
32. J. B. Bury, S. A.
Cook, and F. E. Adcock, ed., The Cambridge
Ancient History, 10 vols. (Cambridge: The University Press, 1965), 3:13031.
33.
The unrestrained abandon to sex in the worship of the generative power in
nature as symbolized by the phallus.
34.
During the reign of David, all Israelites had been consolidated into a United
Monarchy. This status continued until after Solomon’s death, when a system of
heavy taxation and apostasy disrupted the union of the tribes. The ten northern
tribes defected under Jeroboam and formed the Kingdom of Israel. The two
southern
tribes, Judah and Benjamin, remained loyal to the crown and were led by
Solomon’s son, Rehoboam. The two kingdoms were at war during much of the
subsequent two centuries.
4
Anti-Semitism in
Modern History
RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION
ONE
OF THE MOST UNENLIGHTENED PERIODS in Western European history was the Middle
Ages, often referred to as the Dark Ages — the darkness of unbelief and
superstition. Although the exact length of the Middle Ages is difficult to
determine, the period generally encompasses the time between ancient and modern
history. The era spans the time from the fall of the Western Roman Empire A.D.
476 to the beginning of the Reformation in the early sixteenth century. The
duration was approximately one thousand years, during which the Jews of Europe
struggled to survive.
Throughout the Middle Ages and up to the nineteenth century
most of the opposition to the Jews came from organized religion. This
opposition was based on the erroneous claim that the Jews were responsible for
crucifying Christ and this had brought `well-deserved’ scorn upon themselves.35
Fostered by constant
agitation, anti-Semitism erupted sporadically and was expressed in terrible
waves of abuse. Often the persecution imposed severe personal and economic restraints:
confinement to the limits of a
ghetto, disbarment from the more popular professions, and relegation to highly
unpopular trades, such as usury. Despite these limitations many Jews prospered
only to incite further resentment among their neighbors.
At
times, the Jews were expelled from their countries of residence, and their mass
immigration to other places of refuge helped only to brand them as aliens and
intruders. The wandering Jew found no rest (Dent. 28:65). Yet the persecution
and isolation of the Jews led to concentrated efforts to preserve their
spiritual heritage.
The
merger of church and state had given Romanism the impetus needed to dominate
the people of Western Europe. Based on a misguided religiosity, the liberty to
worship God according to the dictates of individual volition and the principles
of doctrine set forth in Scripture were severely repressed. As early as 1215,
this organized religion ruled that all Jews must wear circular badges of
identification on their clothing. Books held sacred by the Jews were burned in
public, and laws were enacted which restricted the Jews from living in the
“Christian” community.
There
were utterly ridiculous and unfounded claims of blood libel — that is, the
accusation that the Jews murdered Christian infants to obtain blood for the
Passover ritual. What was the motivation for such monstrous lies? The Jews were
used as scapegoats. By pinning the blame for social and economic ills of the
time on an unpopular minority, discontent found an outlet. Why not divert the
attention of the malcontents from real problems and issues to that unfathomable
enigma, the Jew, who always seemed to rise above his circumstances?
An unfortunate axiom of human nature states: A lie that
contains a few grains of truth and is voiced loud and often enough will be
believed. The gullible public swallowed the lie of Jewish guile. Massacre
followed massacre. The Church stood by unable to restrain the bloodletting.
Papal bulls (official releases) issued to rescind the lies had no effect. The
damage had been done. Once anti-Semitism was released upon Europe the
flood-tide could not be halted. And so, in the name of Christianity, the Jews
were hounded, tormented, murdered.
No wonder that the very name of Christ has become a stumbling block to many
Jewish people.
THE MEDIEVAL
INQUISITION
Much
has been written about the dreaded Inquisition which, ostensibly, had been
established to eradicate heresy. The word “inquisition” means inquiry — an inquiry
to determine whether an accused person was truly a heretic. The Medieval
Inquisition began across Europe in 1233. A “grace” period of one month duration
was offered to all who wished to abjure heresy (real or alleged), and a penance
was prescribed for those who returned .to “the faith.” For others who could not
be persuaded by threats, instruments of torture were prepared and a forced
confession of guilt was obtained.
Most
cases brought to trial led to conviction. The disposition and punishment of the
guilty were the prerogative of the civil rulers, and the usual sentence was
imprisonment and confiscation of property. Many were accused and dispossessed.
Soon a system of blackmail, graft, and simony — the purchase or sale of
ecclesiastical office — victimized all who sought to avoid the trials. Terrible
though it was, the Medieval Inquisition was only a prelude to the Spanish
Inquisition.
THE SPANISH
INQUISITION
PRELUDE TO TERROR. Perhaps
the zeal of the Catholic monarchs, Ferdinand V and Isabella I, to make Spain a
purely Catholic nation was an effort to erase every last vestige of Moslem
domination. The Berber conquerors, called the Moors, had crossed the Strait of
Gibraltar into Spain in 711 and had ruled for five hundred years. Not until
1212, in the Battle of Las Navas de
Tolosa, did Spain deter the last serious Islamic threat to Christian
dominance. The Berbers were defeated, and in an atmosphere of ever mounting
religious fanaticism the slow process of unifying the land through warfare,
marriage, and inheritance commenced.
By
the year 1469 the marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella would lead to the union of
Aragon and Castille. Spain was on the verge of reaching the zenith of
greatness. With the exception of Granada and Navarre, Spain was firmly in the
hands of Spaniards.36
Granada
remained under Moorish influence. This part of Moorish Spain had a reputation
for excellent craftsmanship, thriving industries, flourishing agriculture and
commerce. In the Moorish cities, Moslems, Jews, and Christians enjoyed the
blessings of material prosperity. To the Castilian nobles whose country was
poor, the temptation to possess this prize became too great. The reconquest of
Granada became imperative.
Previous
attempts were made to convert the sizable population of Jews and Moslems to
Catholicism, but no force had been exerted. Even in newly conquered provinces,
Jews and Moors were tolerated. The Jews, especially, had served the Spanish
monarchs well, providing a prosperous commercial class and an educated elite for
many administrative posts. Yet the royal couple had one consuming ambition — to
see all Spain brought under Roman Catholicism.
TORQUEMADA. In a fanatical fervor
to achieve religious and national unification, Ferdinand and Isabella
instituted the Spanish Inquisition in the year 1478, no doubt at the
instigation of Thomas de Torquemada, a Dominican priest. Official consent from
Pope Sixtus IV
came reluctantly in 1482. The hierarchy in Rome regarded disdainfully this
usurpation of ecclesiastical prerogative and political power by the Spanish
monarch.
By
the next year in an effort to regain a measure of control Sixtus IV named Torquemada the
first inquisitor general. A sincere and incorruptible zealot, he assumed the
high office rejoicing in his opportunity to serve Christ by hounding heretics.
His appointment did not, however, give him the power to rid Spain of Jewry. But
in 1484 Torquemada decreed twenty-eight articles that extended the power of
inquisitors. They now could attack not only heresy and apostasy but also
witchcraft, bigamy, blasphemy, and usury.
This latter offense was an open warrant against Jews.
Torquemada’s
enthusiasm in rigorously enforcing the Inquisition is well documented. The hunt
for heretics proved to be a lucrative business, and soon the coffers of the
king and the Spanish church swelled with the confiscated wealth of the victims.
Although in the beginning the Inquisition affected only Christians and converts
to Catholicism, Jews soon found themselves sucked into the maelstrom of hatred
and suspicion. Many were horribly tortured, strangled, or incinerated.
The
fury of the Inquisition burned with unrelenting frenzy. Systematically
Christians who, through the enlightenment of the Scriptures, dared to challenge
the dogma, authority, and tyranny of the organized church, were consigned to
the flames of the autos-da-fe (acts of faith). After days or even
weeks of the most excruciating tortures imaginable, the fires of the stake were
but a merciful release from their tormentors, an ushering into glory. Still
Torquemada’s misdirected zeal was not satiated. The next most likely victims to
feel his ruthless persecution were the baptized but unconverted Jews tagged
with the insulting epithet of Marranos, “swine.”
Once
Spain had been a place of refuge for the Jews, many of whom could trace their
membership in the Catholic church to the sixth century reign of King Recared I,
a Visigothic king of Spain (586-601). They had become so thoroughly assimilated
into the fabric of Spanish life that they considered themselves Spaniards.
Through ingenuity and energetic drive they had accumulated substantial wealth,
and through marriage and title they had risen to lofty positions. Their
influence was felt even in the highest circles, much to the consternation of intolerant
clerics and nobles who were obsessed with the idea of Spanish “purity.”
Although labeled as “legal” Christians, these Jews became suspect of
insincerity of faith.
To
his everlasting credit, Sixtus IV
was dismayed at the excesses of Torquemada. At first his objections to the
illegal procedures were ignored, and his rebukes went unheeded. But in 1492
when Torquemada requested the expulsion of all Jews from Spain, Sixtus IV refused.
Torquemada
then hounded Ferdinand and Isabella to banish all unconverted Jews. Further, he
wanted Spain to purge all its Jewish population. The royal couple hesitated.
The Jews were respected in Spain and they remembered that a Jew, Abraham
Senior, had arranged their marriage. But under the continuous clamor of
Torquemada for the expulsion of the Jews, the royal couple weakened. Despite
the persuasive counter pleas of Don Isaac Abravanel, a wealthy influential
rabbi who was the finance minister to the Court of Spain, they submitted to
anti-Semitic pressure.
Jewish
historians record that Don Isaac Abravanel offered Ferdinand and Isabella vast
sums to allow the Jews to remain in Spain. The king and queen were tempted, but
as they were about to accept, Torquemada, raising a crucifix over his head,
rushed into the room accusing the monarchs of selling out their Lord as Judas
Iscariot had done to Jesus. The king and queen, terrified by this outburst,
meekly surrendered to fear and signed the order. At a time when Spain needed
all possible economic resources to sustain her European ascendancy and growing
overseas empire, she was deprived of her most valuable human asset, the Jews.
Spain’s emerging dominance wilted into certain decline.
DISASTER FOR SPAIN. This fateful decision by
the Spanish monarchs was made the same year, the same month in which Columbus
was authorized to set sail on his voyage to discover new trade routes.
Ironically, he discovered a new world that would be a future haven for all who
desired freedom from the tyranny of church and state — America.
The
modern exodus from Spain was led by Don Abravanel. When the Inquisition began,
Spain’s Jewish population numbered about a half million people. Approximately
one hundred fifty thousand remained at that time. Some fifty thousand embraced
Catholicism, while ten thousand others perished. The rest eventually found
refuge in Turkey, North Africa, Egypt, southern France, Holland, and northern
Italy where Sixtus welcomed them into the Papal States. Others settled in Africa,
Asia, and South America; where they were among the first settlers of that
continent. Don Abravanel located in Italy and entered the service of the king
of Naples and, later, that of the Doge of Venice.
In
the decision by Ferdinand and Isabella to expel the Jews, Spain lost an
incalculable treasure of merchants, craftsmen, scholars, physicians, and
scientists, while the nations that received them benefited economically and
intellectually. The Jewish middle class had been the backbone of Spain, even as
the Huguenots would become the backbone of Prussia during the Seven Years’ War.
No modern nation can survive the loss of its middle class, the stabilizing
influence on its economy. Those who dispossessed the Jews and greedily stepped
into their place lacked the necessary qualifications to perpetuate prosperity.
The Spanish Empire began to crumble and was lost forever during the reign of
Philip II.
Anti-Semitism had again brought judgment.
In
relating the history of Spain, the Columbia
Encyclopedia gives cognizance to this fact:
.
. . The expulsion of the Jews deprived Spain of a large part of its most useful
and active population. Many went to the Levant and to the Netherlands, where
their skills, capital, and commercial connections benefited their hosts . . . .
The Jewish legacy to Spain and Western Europe is immense . . . . and Jewish
scholars such as Maimonides had a major share in the development of Christian
scholasticism .37
The
fires of the Inquisition spread throughout most of Europe, raged out of control,
and devastated nominal Christians, true believers, and Jews alike. By 1569,
Western Europe, once the center of world Jewry, was practically devoid of Jews;
their numbers decimated, the remnant had been cruelly driven out and banished.
But their influx elsewhere — by invitation of governments of wisdom and vision
— brought not only a population shift but a shift in industry and commerce with
resultant prosperity for these nations.
THE RISE AND
DECLINE OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE
With
the Reformation, Romanism could no longer stem the tide of a new spiritual
awakening. Out of the fires of persecution and martyrdom came a strengthened
faith and conviction based on a renewed interest in the Scriptures that swept
through Germany, Switzerland, Scandinavia, Holland, France, Scotland, and
England. Suddenly, fortune began to turn in favor of the Jews. Their allegiance
became a matter of great importance to the embattled Roman Catholics and rising
Protestants. Each faction hoped that an endorsement from the Jews would sway
the yet uncommitted into their camp.
Max
Dimont cites excerpts from an article written by Martin Luther in defense of
the Protestant position. The article, penned in 1523 and entitled “That Jesus
Was Born a Jew” strongly advocates the principle of pro-Semitism. Luther said
in part:
For
they [the Catholics] have dealt with the Jews as if they were dogs and not
human beings. They have done nothing for them but curse them and seize their
wealth. I would advise and beg everybody to deal kindly with the Jews and to
instruct them in Scriptures; in such a case we could expect them to come over
to us .… We must receive them kindly and allow them to compete with us in
earning a livelihood . . . and if some remain obstinate, what of it? Not
everyone is a good Christian.38
Only when the Jews spurned his offer did Luther turn against
them, as he later turned against others who had disillusioned and betrayed him.
By then he was ill, discouraged, bitter, and torn over the disunion of faiths
in his own country. Yet the first break between church and state had been made.
THE ENGLISH CIVIL WAR
England’s strong ties to Rome were severed during the reign
of the Tudors. Then, the first civil war (the Puritan Revolution) brought a man
of military genius to prominence and leadership. With Oliver Cromwell’s defeat
of the Cavaliers, those loyal to Charles I, feudalism ended in England and gave
way to the incentive of capitalism.
As Lord Protector of England, Cromwell opened the door of
divine blessing when he declared his country a haven for the Jews in 1655. He
offered them citizenship and equal privileges with the English people. As a
result the sun began to rise on the horizon of Britain and reached its apogee
in the reign of Queen Victoria, when the sun literally never set on the Union
Jack.
VICTORIAN ENGLAND
Several factors combined to make Great Britain a majestic
empire. First of all, Queen Victoria was a believer, as was Albert, her
consort. He is said to have found his strength in the Bible and in prayer, and
his influence on Victoria’s thinking was profound. Albert was a man of strong
moral principles, irreproachable character, and high ideals. Thus, his keen and
benevolent concern over the welfare of all British subjects marked the entire
Victorian era as one of law and order and intense patriotism. Victoria’s long
and glorious reign was characterized by aggressive imperialism abroad and
democratic principles at home.
Two of the most influential assets to Victoria’s regime were
Disraeli and Gladstone, both serving alternately as prime ministers in the
later years. Never as popular with the Queen as Disraeli, Gladstone — himself a
believer — is best known for his superior domestic politics.
On the other hand, Benjamin Disraeli, the first Earl of
Beaconsfield, was a brilliant statesman in every respect. The son of Isaac
D’Israeli, a Jewish convert to Christianity, he quite possibly was also a
believer. Certainly he was the first Jew in modern history to have attained
such renown in a great nation. Disraeli instituted improved domestic programs
in housing, health, and working conditions — without socialism. Yet his fame
rests on his ingenious foreign policy.
Through
Disraeli’s administration Britain consolidated and expanded as an imperial
power. In 1876 Disraeli was instrumental in crowning Victoria Empress of India
— the jewel in her crown. His purchase of the controlling shares in the Suez
Canal gave Britain a powerful naval presence in the Mediterranean and access to
India and the western Pacific. During his tenure of office, the Fiji Islands
were annexed, Cyprus was ceded to Great Britain, and Russia’s power was greatly
reduced in the Balkans.
Two
other Jews held positions of importance under Victoria: Sir Moses Montefiore,
the Queen’s financial adviser and founder of the Provisional Bank of Ireland,
and Sir Rufus Isaacs, the first Jewish Chief Justice of England. Isaacs was
subsequently knighted to serve as Viceroy of India.
An
additional factor that served to bless Britain was the tremendous number of
missionaries sent out to proclaim the Gospel of salvation to the uttermost
parts of the empire. Yet Britain never used her power to coerce human volition
where Christianity was concerned. Thus, Britain became a client nation to God in
the last century:39 She extended the Gospel of Jesus Christ,
displayed a strong desire for the doctrines of God’s Word, promoted a
pro-Semitic attitude, and maintained the principles of the laws of divine
establishment.40
BRITAIN AND ZIONISM
Toward the turn of the nineteenth century the Jewish dream
of reestablishing a Jewish state gathered impetus and shape. Since their
dispersion, A. D. 70, the Jews had clung tenaciously to the hope of being
restored to Palestine. The continued persecutions they had suffered only
strengthened the depth of yearning for the aliyah,
the Hebrew word for the ascent or immigration to Palestine.
Orthodox
Jews were still convinced that only Messiah should regather them. This, of course,
is the biblically correct view of Israel’s restoration to the Land. But so
intense was this longing, born of suffering, that many Jews were ready even to
follow self-styled, false Messiahs — Jewish mystics — into ventures which were
doomed before they started. Eventually Jewish thinking changed. Since no
Messianic regathering was forthcoming, as many came to believe, the people
themselves would have to organize and, if need be, fight for their land.
Zionism was born, and Jewish colonization of the Land began in 1870.
Zionism
is strictly man’s effort to usher in the Jewish Millennium.41 As a
religious and political movement its aims are to establish a Jewish homeland
into which all Jews who wish might be admitted. From the Jewish point of view
such a desire is understandable, and the vision, energy, and courage of the
people who made the State of Israel a reality are truly admirable. The Bible
neither condemns, condones, nor encourages any such effort. However, the
Scriptures clearly indicate that during the Tribulation, unregenerate Israel
will be regathered as a nation (Zech. 12-14) in its own right and in a position
to draw and sign legitimate treaties.42
Early
in the twentieth century the Jews sought to reclaim their land by purchasing
large portions of arid and worthless real estate in Palestine. They paid the
unreasonably high prices the Arab and Turkish landowners demanded and were only
too happy to accept. Later, when thousands of Eastern European Jewish
immigrants began to arrive, the Arabs began to consider themselves
“dispossessed” and outnumbered by the Jews.
THE ADVANCE OF ZIONISM IN WORLD WAR 1. During
World War I, Turkey sided with the Central Powers (Germany and Austria-Hungary)
against the British Empire. Turkey became a threat to both British and Zionist
interests in the Middle East. Concurrently, the British war effort was being
severely hampered for lack of acetone, a chemical which Great Britain had
imported from Germany before the war. The chemical was essential to the
manufacture of explosives.
In
1915, Dr. Chaim Weizmann (1874-1952) received a call to the British War Office.
Weizmann was a brilliant Russianborn Jew and scientist, who had become an
English subject in 1910 and was at this time the director of the British
Admiralty Laboratories. He was presented with the problem: Could he produce a
substitute for the acetone Britain so desperately needed? Weizmann promptly
developed a perfect alternate substance — a synthetic cordite. He became a
national hero overnight.
With
Weizmann’s charming personality, his indispensability to the war effort, and
his contact with many important figures in England, he was able to exert
considerable influence on a grateful British government. Prominent in the
Zionist movement he was successful in obtaining the Balfour Declaration
favoring the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine. There was one
condition: The rights of the non-Jewish communities in Palestine must be
respected.
On
paper the Balfour Declaration of 1917 was a triumph for the Jews. The British
government would assume the protection of the Jews. In reality, however, things
were not quite so simple. The fact that a Jew had turned the tide of battle in
favor of the British and that Britain now championed the Jewish cause enraged
the Turks and the Arabs. Any Jew in their territories who was suspected of the
least pro-British sympathies was summarily hanged. Zionism was outlawed, and
more than twelve thousand Jews were deported from Turkey.
ZIONISM BETWEEN THE WARS. In the peace
conferences that followed the allied victory in World War I, the Middle East
was neatly carved up into a series of small nations: Syria, Trans-Jordan, Saudi
Arabia, and Lebanon. At the same time, the need for oil in Britain and France
was becoming so vital that all treaties with these newly born Middle Eastern
nations were designed to bind them to the allies. This is the genesis of
Europe’s dependence on Middle Eastern oil and their plight in the present
crisis.
In
1923 Britain acquired a mandate over Palestine, which they enforced in
accordance with the Balfour Declaration. During the first few years of the
mandate, Jewish colonization of Palestine expanded rapidly but so did
anti-Jewish sentiment on the part of the Arabs. By 1928, hatred between the
Arabs and the Jews erupted in a clash over the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem. A
major Arab revolt followed in 1929.
Britain
was caught in the middle. They wanted to maintain amicable relations with the
Arabs and also enforce the Balfour Declaration. The British peacekeeping forces
achieved some semblance of order, but the controversy continued. As a
compromise that pleased neither side, Britain sought to limit the influx of
Jews and their purchase of land in Palestine. For the first time in hundreds of
years Britain had made a decision detrimental to the Jews. This coincided with
the initial disintegration of the British Empire.
Still
another factor in Britain’s fateful decision must be noted. This incident is
connected with World War I and the defeat of the Turks. The British victory
over the Turks occurred in such a way that it obligated them to the Arabs.
The
name of Lawrence of Arabia is linked with romantic adventure, and the man
himself became a legend in his own day. In reality, the famed British
adventurer was a soldier and scholar who, in 1910, set out alone to walk across
Syria. From Syria he joined archeological expeditions into the region of
Arabia. During World War I, he was attached to British army intelligence and
was instrumental in coordinating the Arab rebellion against the Turks.
In exchange for
revolting against the Turks the Arabs were secretly promised certain Middle
Eastern territories. Sir Arthur McMahon, Britain’s Commissioner to Egypt, had
put these promises in writing. Vaguely worded, Palestine was not mentioned in
any of the communications. But to the Arabs the possession of that land was a
foregone conclusion. Nor would they be reconciled to a Jewish presence in
Palestine.
However,
after World War I the flow of Jewish immigration to Palestine continued and by
1933 when Hitler rose to power, the flow became a flood. Alarmed that Palestine
would be transformed into a Jewish state, the Arabs demanded that Britain put a
stop to all Jewish immigration. One would have thought that the plight of the
European Jews would arouse world opinion in favor of a Jewish exodus. Far from
it!
Britain
was in a quandary. They owed a debt to the Jews; they owed a debt to the Arabs.
In 1936, Britain proposed to partition Palestine between the Jews and the
Arabs, with a neutral sector between them. The Arabs again revolted: They
claimed the right of national self-determination because Arabs represented the
majority of the populace. The British repressed the revolt, often brutally, but
actually sympathized with Arab nationalism and hegemony.
ZIONISM DURING AND AFTER WORLD WAR II. Before
the outbreak of World War II, the British released a public document, the White
Paper of 1939, which guaranteed the further decline of the Empire. The Paper
announced British intentions to create in Palestine a predominantly Arab state.
Jewish immigration was to be limited to only fifteen hundred persons per month
and was to stop entirely by 1944 when the Jewish population of Palestine was
expected to number five hundred thousand. 43
Palestinian and world Jewry were outraged; but with the
eruption of World War II, all differences were temporarily set aside. Political
tension diminished. Because of its strategically important location, Palestine
became an armed camp, a military defense base, with all parties aiding the
British war effort in hopes of future favors.
In the years between the wars Dr. Weizmann was an honorary
adviser to the British Ministry of Supply. He greatly advanced the research of
synthetic rubber and high-octane gasoline, while continuing his campaign on
behalf of Jewish immigration. The Jews already in Palestine also recognized
that the doors must be kept open for those who fled in ever increasing numbers
from the horrors of Nazi persecution. Fewer and fewer countries were allowing
European Jews to relocate within their borders.
During
World War II
one hundred thirty thousand Jews volunteered to enlist in the British Africa
Corps, eager to meet the Nazis in combat. Yet only thirty thousand were accepted
(not to exceed the number of Arab volunteers). Serving as independent
companies, the Jewish Legion distinguished itself for valor in the North
African campaigns and in Italy. How grateful would Great Britain be for Jewish
contribution toward victory?
With
the end of the war the terrible truth of the horrors of the Nazi concentration
camps and Hitler’s systematic extermination of six million Jews was exposed.
The world was shocked. Hastily, refugee camps were set up for the piteous
survivors of Nazi atrocities. Still Britain was intent on enforcing the policy
specified in the White Paper. The Arabs were as implacable as ever and firmly
opposed to any Jewish immigration.
With
a determination born of frustration, desperation, and a will to survive, the
Jews of Palestine came to the aid of their less fortunate brothers. They
organized into tight-knit, combat-ready fighting units. Other Jews throughout
the world financed the struggle. The Palestinian Jews smuggled in refugees
right under the noses of the British in open defiance of their immigration
quotas. The British intercepted the illegal immigrants and detained them on
Cyprus. Mass arrests were made. Jewish leaders were captured and hanged. Yet
the secret convoys kept coming, and Jewish determination to find a permanent
solution to their dilemma was deepened by every act of reprisal.
In
Parliament at that time, cautious and conciliatory voices were raised to
reconsider Britain’s attitude toward the Jews. But, handicapped by their
allegiance to the Arabs, British leaders were deaf to those voices. The British
military now became the most formidable enemy against Palestinian Jewish
soldiers. This action would become a tragic mistake for the empire as the Union
Jack was lowered over Palestine for the last time on 14 May 1948.
To Britain’s credit, although the decision was anti-Jewish,
British soldiers did not despise the Jews for their fervor. In fact, they had
nothing but admiration for Jewish courage. Nor did the army lose
because British troops
were inferior to the Jewish combat teams. Britain lost the struggle in
Palestine because of problems of greater precedence in other lands of her
far-flung empire, which had begun to crumble. From the biblical view, however,
Britain’s loss in Palestine and decline elsewhere can be attributed to one fact
only — anti-Semitism, the never-failing principle stated in Genesis 12:3.
Out
of the Israeli War for Independence came the creation of the present Jewish
State. Suffice it to say, Britain has paid dearly for her mistakes. Today, what
remains of the British Empire — the United Kingdom — is beset with economic and
political problems, plagued with terrorist attacks and bombings. Her glory
lives on in history books and in the imagination of those who remember the
“thin red line” that defended British sovereignty in every part of the world.
THE DREYFUS AFFAIR IN
FRANCE
Not
only do world empires collapse under anti-Semitic policies but the ruin of
individual lives eventuates from this racial antagonism. In the process great
personal injustice is inflicted on people simply because they are Jewish. A
case in point was the cause celebre in France that became known
around the world as the “Dreyfus Affair.” This sordid business was entirely
concocted by men of evil aspirations, intent on falsely accusing one Jew of
espionage. Their purpose was to stereotype all Jews as potential subversives
and declare them unfit for the officer corps of the French Army.
Alfred Dreyfus (1859-1935) was the son of a Jewish
manufacturer who had immigrated to France after the cession of Alsace to
Germany. Desiring to make the military his career; young Dreyfus became an
artillery captain and was the first Jew in France to be appointed to a staff
post. The appointment occasioned consternation and caustic objections, for the
French army was permeated with anti-Semitism.
Dreyfus would have remained an obscure figure apart from the
trumped-up charges in the case that bore his name. His contemporaries described
him as a quiet, unassuming man with few friends. He was wealthy, happily
married with two children. Thoroughly assimilated into the French upper class,
he was known to have been a fervent patriot. Out of love of country he embarked
on a military career.
But
while all prosperous Jews were welcome in the elegant salons of society, the
army denied loyal Jewish sons equal status with that of other Frenchmen.
Political tradition ruled out Jewish career officers, and Roman Catholicism
could not accept those who, by virtue of their beliefs, were beyond the influence
of the confessional. Prejudice and animosity toward the Jews clearly set the
stage on which this drama unfolded.
The
scandal broke in 1894 when evidence surfaced that French military secrets had
been betrayed to the Germans. Who was the turncoat in their midst? Calls to
investigate were immediate. The evidence was slim — only a handwritten letter
known as the bordereau, listing
secret French documents, which the traitor had promised to deliver to Major Max
von Schwartzkoppen, the German military attache in Paris. The only link between
Dreyfus and the bordereau was the
resemblance of the letter’s text to his handwriting. There was no other proof
of the captain’s guilt.
That
same year Dreyfus was arrested and charged with treason. In vain he protested
his innocence. A court-martial convened under the influence of anti-Semitic
officers. Captain Dreyfus was convicted, then sentenced to public degradation
and life imprisonment on Devil’s Island, Guiana.
The
case might well have been forgotten were it not for the efforts of Lieutenant
Colonel Georges Picquart, chief of the counterintelligence section of the
French Secret Service. Colonel Picquart came forth with new evidence in 1896
that cleared Dreyfus. The facts he had discovered placed guilt on a dashing
aristocrat of Hungarian descent, Major Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy, the true
author of the forged bordereau. In
order to pay outstanding debts, Esterhazy had resorted to the sale of military
secrets to the Germans.
To the French General Staff, the indictment of an officer of
nobility was unthinkable. A conviction would discredit the entire officer corps
and undermine the public’s confidence in the army.
Because the General
Staff did not want to reopen the case, Colonel Picquart was ordered not to
divulge his discovery. But Picquart’s personal sense of justice was so strong
that he persisted in his attempts on Dreyfus’ behalf. Consequently, he was
demoted and transferred to Tunis in the hope that he would be silenced. He was
not! He was subsequently dismissed from the service, arrested, and charged with
forgery in 1898.
Yet
Picquart’s fearless public statements aroused others. Working independently,
Dreyfus’ brother, Mathieu, exposed the same facts and pressed for a reopening of
the case. Rapidly the Dreyfus affair became a major political issue. National
tension mounted and for the next ten years the country was split into two
factions — Dreyfusards and anti-Dreyfusards.
Concurrent
with Colonel Picquart’s forgery arrest, other deceptions began to surface.
Major Hubert Joseph Henry, the original discoverer of the bordereau, had falsified new documents in an attempt to exonerate
Esterhazy. From the beginning Major Henry had been one of the most vociferous
antagonists of Dreyfus. In an effort to extricate the army from this tangled
web of intrigue, Major Esterhazy was tried in a military court. The trial was
another farce. Esterhazy was acquitted despite overwhelming evidence of his
guilt, while Dreyfus continued to languish on Devil’s Island.
In
that same year renowned and passionate defenders of Dreyfus rallied to his
cause, including Georges Clemenceau, who later become the Premier of France,
Anatole France, and Emile Zola, the famous novelist and journalist. In his
brilliant article “J’accuse” (“I
accuse”), Zola exposed not a Jewish conspiracy against France but a conspiracy
on the part of the military high command against the Jew, Dreyfus. This he
termed to be a crime of “high treason against humanity.” Zola, subsequently
prosecuted and convicted for libel, fled to England to avoid prison.
Also in 1898 Joseph Henry, who had manufactured the evidence
that sent Dreyfus to prison, committed suicide to shield his friend Esterhazy.
Fully cognizant of these developments, the public clamored for a retrial of
Dreyfus. Still, the anti-Semitic forces at work behind the scenes were so
powerful that, despite the suicide and the presentation of new
evidence, the military court at Rennes found
Dreyfus guilty of “treason in extenuating circumstances.” His sentence was
reduced to ten years and finally he was pardoned for a crime he never
committed.
By
this time the Dreyfus affair had received worldwide notoriety. The uproar for
the complete exoneration of Dreyfus continued unabated. In time Major Esterhazy
was convicted of embezzlement and given a dishonorable discharge. He fled to
England where, later, he admitted his complicity in the forgeries.
Meanwhile,
France had elected a new premier, Georges Clemenceau. Under Clemenceau, Dreyfus
was acquitted in 1906, reinstated in the army with the rank of major, and
decorated with the Legion of Honor. The vindication of Dreyfus was simultaneous
with that of Picquart, who rose to the rank of general and entered Clemenceau’s
cabinet as war minister. When World War I erupted, Dreyfus, too, was elevated
to general. His innocence was proven beyond a shadow of a doubt in a
publication of Schwartzkoppen’s papers in 1930. Five years later, Dreyfus died.
Yet his name lives on, linked with the grotesque miscarriage of justice that
will remain forever a stain on the honor of France.
The
courage of a fine soldier, Georges Picquart, and the great journalist, Emile
Zola, helped to right this grievous wrong. In June of 1908, when the ashes of
Zola were transferred to the Pantheon, Dreyfus was among those present to pay
his personal respects to this man, who had refused to be blinded to the real
issues of freedom and justice by the hysteria of anti-Semitism.
THE
RISE AND FALL OF THE THIRD REICH
The most recent illustration of the tragic consequences
accompanying anti-Semitism can be found in the downfall of the once proud
German nation. The German descent into chaos can be attributed to one man,
Adolph Hitler (1889-1945) and his Nazi ideology, woven into a central creed of
anti-Semitism.
The infamy of Hitler’s genocide against Christians and Jews
bears the signs of possible demon possession. What else could explain his
sudden advance from vagrancy to world prominence and power? What could induce
the acclaim and adoration he exacted from his followers; the appalling violence
he committed in his lust to exterminate all Jews; his wild hypnotic oratory and
diatribes; his later drug addiction degenerating into ranting and raving until
spittle covered his chin and jacket; and in the end, cowering in his bunker
vindictively demanding Germany’s total destruction as World War II drew to a close?44
HITLER’S
BEGINNINGS
Consider
this man’s background. His father, Alois, was the illegitimate child of a
peasant girl, Maria Anna Schicklgruber, and Johann Georg Heidler or Hitler.
Though Alois was later legitimized, by German standards Adolph Hitler’s social
position scarcely recommended him for the leadership of that nation in the
first half of the twentieth century. Adolph was born near the Bavarian border
in the Austrian town of Braunau and from an early age he had but one aspiration
— to become an artist.
After
taking several preliminary art courses in Munich, he applied to the Vienna
Academy of Art. His application was refused for his lack of talent. Frustrated
by rejection, the poverty-stricken Hitler began nurturing a grudge against
society. He became a brooding, solitary figure. He subsisted on a tiny
inheritance and on the sale of several of his watercolors, which were of little
artistic value.
In
Vienna Hitler was first exposed to the venom of anti-Semitism. He came under
the influence of Vienna’s anti-Semitic mayor, Karl Lueger. This poison found
fertile ground in his demented soul.
When
World War I broke out in 1914, Hitler enlisted in the army. He rose to the rank
of corporal and was awarded the Iron Cross, first class, for bravery in
Flanders. Yet he was not an outstanding soldier by any means. Later in the war,
in a combat situation, he was exposed to poison gas and spent many months
recovering in hospital. Possibly, at this point Satan chose to begin the
infiltration of Hitler’s mind with delusions of grandeur, for when the war was
over, he moved back to Munich, determined to embark on a political career.
In
Munich, Hitler joined a small band of malcontents and nationalist veterans who
were rankled and bitter over Germany’s capitulation and the severity of the
Treaty of Versailles that ended World War 1. By 1920, backed by a handful of faithful
followers, Hitler emerged as the driving force behind the Nazi (National
Socialist German Worker’s) party. Slow to start, the party was destined to grow
into a nightmare.
At
first no one gave consideration to this megalomaniac whose life thus far had
been a failure and whose abilities were less than mediocre. Only a few ex-army
officers, among them Field Marshal von Ludendorff, believed that Hitler’s
personal magnetism could be harnessed for the rebuilding of the German military
and German prestige. But Hitler had his own plans for power.
HITLER’S RISE TO POWER
The
Treaty of Versailles had assigned the number of Germany’s men under arms at one
hundred thousand. But soon after their defeat German military minds devised an
ingenious scheme to elude this treaty provision. This contrivance would build
the finest military machine the world had ever seen. Every officer worth his
mettle in the late war would be retained to hold a reserve commission. These
men would serve in the guise of noncommissioned officers to train the Wehrmacht (German army). At the same
time they would plan the future campaigns of the next war. Hitler and his
fledgling party vigorously supported this military stratagem.
Ludendorff
threw in his lot with Hitler, and together they organized an armed militia —
the brown-shirted, jack-booted, swastika-armbanded storm troopers. Using this
group of paramilitary thugs, Hitler hoped to bring all of Germany under his
control. During 1923 in Munich, he attempted a coup d’etat which failed. Fourteen of the three thousand storm
troopers, who had participated in the uprising, lay dead; many more were
wounded, including one of Hitler’s closest henchman, Hermann Goering.
The
ringleaders, Ludendorff and Hitler, who had tried to flee, were arrested and
the storm troopers banned. The prominence Ludendorff still enjoyed brought his
immediate release, but Hitler was sentenced to a five-year term of which he
served only thirteen months. During his imprisonment he wrote the manifesto
that was to become the Nazi bible — Mein
Kampf (My Struggle).
Temporarily,
Germany breathed easier and forgot about Hitler. But the power-mad painter, who
did not even possess German citizenship, had not forgotten his ambitious goal.
When he left prison the nation was in social and economic chaos. The democratic
but weak Weimar government was incapable of solving the mounting problems.
Meanwhile,
the communists were gaining strength. Germany’s elite — the militarists,
monarchists, industrialists, and financial tycoons — feared the communists more
than they feared the Socialists. They would turn to anyone who could defeat
this menace. Ludendorff’s association with Hitler had drawn their attention to
the Nazis; and what Hitler propounded when he reentered politics made good
sense to them. In Hitler’s opinion, the blame for Germany’s problems could be
laid squarely at the doors of (1) the Treaty of Versailles, (2) the “Red Front”
(communism), and (3) the Jews. He had a simple solution: Eliminate all three
and restore Germany to its former greatness. This he proposed to do once he was
in power. Victory and glory were certain.
To
the amazement of outside observers, Hitler’s party gained stronger
representation in the Reichstag (the
German Parliament) with each election. Although the aging General Paul von
Hindenburg had been chosen president, he was a mere figurehead and scarcely in
full possession of his faculties. Certainly he was no
match for the wily Hitler. Unable to cope with the country’s
internal turmoil — those daily street fights between communists and Nazis — and
faced with the threatened overthrow of the government, Hindenburg appointed
Hitler Chancellor of Germany in 1933.
CONSOLIDATING HIS POWER. The
appointment was the measure of legitimacy that Hitler needed to usurp all political
authority for himself. So sure was he of his popularity that he dissolved the
Reichstag and set a date for new elections on S March 1933. But the week before
the voting, an arsonist torched the Reichstag building. Hitler who had
personally ordered the burning blamed the communists for the incident. The
public outrage at the communists was the pretext for unleashing Nazi storm
troopers on all of Hitler’s political rivals and real or suspected enemies.
Anyone who disagreed with or opposed Hitler was summarily executed or
disappeared into newly constructed concentration camps.
In
a remarkably short time Hitler consolidated his position by eliminating most of
his opposition. Those who escaped arrest kept quiet. But straight-thinking
Germans were obviously alarmed at the thought of Hitler at the helm. No longer
did Germany consider his strutting boastfulness comical, nor his goose-stepping
storm troopers a laughing matter. The ruthless, dreaded geheime Swats polizei (Gestapo — the Secret Police) were ubiquitous.
So called `enemies of the state’ were dragged from their homes to Gestapo
cellars where they were interrogated, tortured, and shot. Fresh in the memory
of the citizenry was the 1934 blood purge of the Nazi party, “The Night of the
Long Knives,” when many of Hitler’s old cronies from the Munich days were
murdered.
Two years and one reign of terror later, Hitler had
established an absolute dictatorship. His schemes were grandiose: Germany would
succeed the Holy Roman Empire and the Hohenzollern Empire as the Third Reich
(the Third Empire). According to his prealcuons and promise, the Third Reich
would last a thousand years. It endured only twelve — twelve years too long!
GERMAN LIFE
UNDER HITLER
If
we could use but one word to describe
Hitler’s regime, it would be the word ersatz,
a common word in every German household during World War II. It means
“substitute.” Removing something of value requires a replacement. Hitler did
just that. In place of the old black, white, and red flag of Germany, up went
the swastika on its red banner. Long-accepted greetings gave way to an
outstretched arm and the salute “Heil Hitler” (hail Hitler). To refuse the
salute was tantamount to treason and made a person subject to immediate
suspicion.
Biblical
Christianity, too, became a thing of the past. In its place, the old Germanic
gods were reintroduced and neopagan doctrines so well suited to Nazi ideology
were propagated. Some saw Hitler as God.45 These substitutions were
equivalent to idolatry, a trademark of demonism (1 Cor. 10:19-21).
The
shock of Nazi dehumanization of the Jews has overshadowed Hitler’s momentous
persecution of Christians. Not to be overlooked, seven million Christians were
put to death in Nazi Germany between 1933 and 1945. When a nation is deprived
of the very persons who preserve its existence (Matt. 5:13), that nation faces
certain disaster. Freedom of thought, so highly treasured by German minds, was
stifled by intimidation, and the few voices raised in protest were quickly silenced.
Still
a few courageous and dedicated men like Pastor Martin Niemoeller remained
outspoken critics of the Hitler regime. Niemoeller publicly deplored Nazi
interference with the function of the German churches and denounced the rise of
neopaganism. His fearless stand for Christian principle and doctrine led to his
arrest in 1937 and his imprisonment from 1938 until 1945,
when he was liberated by the victorious Allies.
Hitler kept his promise to those who had propelled him to
power through an act of “legal revolution.” (The outlawing of the Communist
party had given him the full majority he needed to gain office.) Boosting
German nationalism, he ordered the complete rearming of Germany, thus
repudiating the Treaty of Versailles.
Like
a snake Hitler’s twisted plan began to uncoil. In 1938 he incorporated into the
Fatherland several million German-speaking people by annexing Austria and
forcing Czechoslovakia to cede the Sudetenland. His popularity soared. The
nation could once more raise its head proudly and dream of conquering the
world. The song, “Today We Own Germany; Tomorrow the Whole World,” was on
everyone’s lips, even as the newly propagated concept of the German “master
race” took root in their hearts.
With
Germans as the Aryan super race, all other races were relegated to an inferior
position. The sinister theories of racism were taught in all public schools.
Full-blooded Aryans were pictured as tall, blond, and blue-eyed, and Jews as
short, black-haired, dark eyed, hook nosed, and sallow faced. Documenting proof
of Aryan descent became an obsession with the Nazis, while Jewishness in itself
became a crime. Hitler was now primed to turn his attention to the “final
solution” of the Jewish problem.
The
Jewish population of Germany was aghast at the developments as were clear
thinking Gentiles. Except for isolated cases, German Jewry had enjoyed relative
freedom from anti-Semitism. Now rampant prejudice loomed on their horizon.
Proverbs
22:3a says, “The prudent sees the evil and hides himself.” All who could
decipher the “handwriting on the wall” packed and left the country. The
majority of the Jews, however, decided to adopt a wait-and-see attitude. They
deluded themselves by wishful thinking, convinced that such things could not
happen in a civilized country like Germany.
Hitler’s appointment of the clubfooted, undeniably brilliant
Goebbels as Minister of Public “Enlightenment” (Propaganda Minister) did much
to further the attainment of Hitler’s evil goals. Totally loyal to the cause of
National Socialism and to Hitler, Goebbels used every available means of
communication in manipulating the German people. He issued a deluge of slogans;
he published blatant lies and declared them to be emphatic truths; he elevated
Hitler to the status of demigod and whipped the citizenry into a frenzied
worship of der Fuehrer.
The
people were mesmerized. The young flocked to the Hitler Youth organization to
be steeped in the dogmas of Nazi ideology. The general populace appeared
content to follow their leader blindly wherever he might lead them right down
the path of national suicide.
How
far might Germany have gone were it not for anti-Semitism? By the outbreak of
World War II, Germany could boast of having the most formidable military
machine in the world. The Wehrmacht had brilliant leadership. The Luftwaffe (air force) was advanced far
beyond its time. The German fleet staffed with naval experts was imposing,
complete with surface ships and submarines. The German army was well prepared
and motivated, having but one objective supremacy of the Fatherland. The people
were industrious and patriotic, willing to sacrifice all for the establishment
of the new super race. Yet from the beginning the possibility of German
greatness was overruled by their attitude toward the Jews.
HITLER’S JEWISH
SOLUTION
Hitler’s “solution” to the “Jewish problem” evolved in
stages, each progressively more evil. In 1933, the Nazis had been content with
the boycott and looting of Jewish shops. Occasionally stores were vandalized
and Jewish owners beaten.
Two years later, the enactment of the Nuremberg Laws
deprived Jews of their citizenship, their businesses, their most basic civil
rights. The “Jew ban” went into effect. The law forbade Jews to engage in
professions. They could no longer frequent theatres, museums, and other public
places. Shopping was restricted to certain stores during certain hours.
Jews could only have Jewish names. Those who had been given
Teutonic names at birth were required to add the names “Sarah” or “Israel.”
Intermarriage between Jews and Aryans was outlawed, and
Aryan partners of preexisting marriages were pressured to leave their spouses
and families. Jewish children were expelled from public schools.
On
9 November 1938 the Nazis launched a systematic campaign of terror against
German Jews. Kristallnacht, “the
night of glass,” so-called because of the shattered glass of Jewish shops and
the looting of synagogues all over Germany, marked the most vicious form yet of
Nazi anti-Semitism.
The
Jews still remaining in Germany were advised that their entire wealth would be
confiscated and turned over to the German state, should they desire to leave
the country. At the same time, the Nazis contrived a plan to hold all German
Jews as hostages pending the payment of a ransom of one-and-a-half billion
Reichsmarks. Geneva, Switzerland, was to be the site of the negotiations for
the ransom to be paid by world Jewry. However, after the occupation of
Czechoslovakia and invasion of Poland, the Germans broke off negotiations.
By
1940, the deportation of all German and Austrian Jews to specially created
ghettos in Poland was a fait accompli. There
they were abandoned to disease and starvation. But the “final solution” was not
instituted until 1941, after Hitler invaded Russia. The primary principle of
Hitler’s eastward expansion was to secure lebensraum,
“living space,” for pureblooded Germans. Other inferior races must be
eliminated in order to give every true Aryan a piece of soil to call his own.
Concentration
camps in the east, which had thus far been used only to detain the Jews, were
now to become extermination camps. Hitler’s “solution” included not only the
mass murder of all European Jews but
also the enslavement and eventual liquidation of that segment of Eastern
Europeans whom Hitler called untermenschen,
“Christian subhumans.”
With
that sadistic goal in view the Nazis began mass deportations of young and
healthy “subhumans” who could be forced to work for the Reich war effort. The
Nazis efficiently concluded that this slave labor would free Germans to fight
at the front. They conducted this conspiracy of dehumanization like a business.
Inmates were estimated to work on an average of two hundred and seventy days
before they dropped dead. Within five years of the inception of Hitler’s
fiendish plan, nearly three-quarter million Russians, Poles, Yugoslavs, and
even Belgians and Dutch were uprooted from their native lands and “exported” to
Germany.
Slave
labor camps became commonplace over the countryside of Germany and German-occupied
territory. Here these captives of the Nazis were underfed and overworked by
their German masters until they became weak and ill. Special task forces were
created for the sole purpose of expediting the extermination of the now useless
slave laborers. These brutal units were composed mostly of Nazi party members
who had volunteered for that job.
In
the eastern conquered territories the systematic elimination of the Jews and
Christians came in the wake of the invading Wehrmacht. Special Action Groups —
Hitler’s executioners, each group under the command of a general of the army —
followed the occupation forces rounding up all known Jewish and Christian
undesirables. These “expendables” were marched to a deserted area and forced to
dig large pits or trenches. With their graves ready, they were ordered to
undress and line up to be mowed down by machine guns. The dead were bulldozed
into the mass graves and the wounded among the corpses were buried alive.
But
the slaughter was not swift enough to satisfy the Fuehrer. Germany and Europe
had to be rendered Judenrein, “purified
of Jews,” in a more efficient, less costly, and less tedious way. How could the
mass murder of the Jews be facilitated? History credits the ruthless and most
inhumane of all Nazi henchmen, Heinrich Himmler, with the introduction of gas
chambers.
The
problem was resolved in what Himmler considered to be a “humane” way: through
the utilization of Zyklon B, a hydrogen cyanide gas, which was simple and
inexpensive to manufacture. The mammoth task was handed over to Adolf Eichman,
a lieutenant colonel in the storm troopers. When Germany surrendered, Eichman
fled to South America where, fifteen years later, Israeli agents finally
apprehended him. He was extradited to Israel, tried, and hanged in 1962 as a
war criminal.
Eichman enthusiastically implemented the task assigned to
him. Additional extermination camps had to be built and the existing ones
adapted or modernized for this calculated mass murder. The camps had to be
staffed with continuously brainwashed personnel who regarded all Jews as
vermin.
A system for transporting the doomed victims was put into
operation: Railroad spurs that led off the main lines were laid to take the
Jews to their tragic destination. The Jews often thought they had purchased a
ticket to freedom. Those who survived the brutal journey in overcrowded boxcars
jammed with humanity, with no food or water, discovered too late that their
only release would be from this world.
Another
quote from Max 1. Dimont presents a horrifying account of the Nazis’ use of
technology in the final disposal of the Jews:
Soon a sizable segment of the German population was diverted
from the war effort for the planning, building, and staffing of these murder
camps. Generals on the Russian front complained that winter uniforms for the
troops were arriving late because trains had been diverted; industrialists
complained they were being pirated of skilled labor. But nothing was allowed to
interfere with the “final solution.”
Though there was a shortage of steel for tanks and
airplanes, there was no shortage of steel to build furnaces for the disposal of
the cadavers. This excerpt from a business letter from the Director of the
Didier Works in Berlin gives proof of the knowledge German industrialists had
of the use of their products:
“For placing the bodies into the furnaces, we suggest simply
a metal tray moving on cylinders. Each furnace will have an oven measuring only
24 by 18 inches, as coffins will not be used. For transporting corpses from the
storage points to the furnaces we suggest using light carts on wheels, and we
enclose diagrams of these drawn to scale.”
With German efficiency, chambers for the administration of Zyklon
B gas were built to resemble large shower rooms. Arrivals were informed they
would have to take a shower, were ordered to undress, and then herded into the
“shower rooms.” Small children were often thrown in after the adults. The steel
doors to the gas chambers were shut. Then the amethyst blue Zyklon B crystals
were funneled through the large-holed shower
nozzles into the hermetically-sealed room. The hydrogen cyanide gas released from
the crystals slowly rose to the ceiling, slowly gassing the people in the room,
slowly turning the gasping, retching bodies into bright pink, green-spotted,
convulsed corpses. Peepholes in walls and ceiling, protected by safety glass,
were provided for Nazi officials who had a compulsion to view the agonized
writhings of naked men and women choking to death. Through these peepholes they
could watch, entranced, several performances a day.
New industries develop special skills, and the concentration
camp industry was no exception. Adept sonderkommandos
[specialized details] learned to apply grappling hooks with skill to
separate the bodies. Trained technicians learned to pry dead lips apart and
deftly knock out gold-filled teeth. Talented barbers dexterously shaved the
heads of dead women. Six days a week, the new elite worked in the concentration
camps. On Sunday they rested, went to church with their wives and children, and
after church talked with horror about the eastern front, where Russians were killing
German soldiers, and commented on the barbarity of the Americans who were
dropping bombs on civilians.
At the Auschwitz concentration camp 7000 Germans were thus
employed. Here seventeen tons of gold were collected from the teeth of the
dead. The hair from the shaven heads were used in the manufacture of cloth and
mattresses. The ashes of the bodies were used as fertilizer for German victory
gardens. Fatty acids were salvaged for making inexpensive soap. This is a good
formula, according to a Danzig firm: “Take 12 pounds of human fat, 10 quarts of
water, and 8 ounces to a pound of caustic soda and boil for two or three hours,
then cool.46
All
these details, of course, were kept in strict secret until after the war, when
the appalling truth was discovered. The Nuremberg trials revealed barbarous
cruelty, sadistic medical experiments practiced on countless victims whose sole
crime was their Jewishness. At the Auschwitz concentration camp alone four
million Jews lost their lives in gas chambers, medical experimentation, or to
shooting, hanging, beating, malnutrition, and disease.47 These acts
of brutality are documented but are too horrible to describe in graphic detail.
The
question has often been asked why the Jews did not resist the Nazis. The answer
is simple: Neither the Jews nor the outside world knew of Hitler’s final
solution to the Jewish problem. Reports of what was happening in the
concentration camps were considered rumors; no one believed that such
inhumanity could possibly exist in the twentieth century.
By
1943, however, there could be no further doubt that the terrible rumors that
filtered out were all too true. By then it was too late; the Jews could not
defend themselves. Their leadership had been murdered, their communities
dispersed, and their numbers decimated. They had nothing with which to fight
back — only their will to survive — and that will was phenomenally strong. The
unbelievable tenacity of inmates of the concentration camps kept them from
going insane or committing suicide.
In
some instances, as in the Warsaw ghetto uprising in 1943, Jews did stage a
valiant armed resistance. That ghetto had been used as a collection point for
Jews designated to be shipped to death camps. Against overwhelming odds, the
Jews held out for six weeks and even routed the Nazis. With what, you ask? With
weapons, many of them outdated, that they had obtained through bribes, raids,
and Jewish ingenuity.
A
special combat group had to be summoned to deal with the uprising. Continued
artillery barrages turned the ghetto into a blazing inferno. More artillery
shells were required to subdue and defeat a few determined Jews in that one
sector of Warsaw than to originally capture the entire city! For this act of
“bravery,” General Juergen Stroop was awarded an Iron Cross. After 1943 no
large number of Jews were concentrated in any one sector outside the death
camps.
The
circumstances surrounding the defeat of the courageous Jews are significant,
illustrating once again the principle of the curse of Genesis 12:3. When the
hard-pressed defenders of the ghetto appealed urgently to the Polish
underground to come to the rescue against their common German enemy, the Poles
refused. They had no love for the Jews. However, with the Russian army at the
gates of Warsaw in late 1944, the Polish underground at last attacked the
Germans and, in turn, called on the Russians to assist them. The Russians
refused. As a result the entire underground, numbering fifteen thousand men,
was wiped out.
By
1943 the speed with which the Nazi executioners liquidated the remaining Jews
was accelerated. Even after the tide of battle turned and the Nazis began to
retreat, the death trains with their cargo of human misery continued to roll.
The rapid Allied advance across Germany’s frontier occasioned a frantic effort
to obliterate any traces of the death camps. Too late! In Poland alone, enough
Zyklon B crystals were found to gas twenty million more people, along with Nazi
plans which called for the slaughter of ten million non-Germans every year after
victory. The sites of these mass murders remain as monuments to Nazi
atrocities.
On
the other side of this ghastly picture, history has recorded countless acts of
heroism on the part of individuals and entire populations who refused to
surrender Jews living in their midst to Nazi tormentors. For their heroic stand
many forfeited their lives. Among those gallant nations were France, Belgium,
Holland, Yugoslavia, and even Hitler’s ally Italy.
Outstanding for their efforts in the cause of pro-Semitism
were the Danes and the Norwegians. Reportedly the king of Denmark personally
took part in the organization of an underground, composed of a flotilla of
fishing boats to assist Jews in their escape: More than that, he wore a yellow
Star of David in public to show his sympathy for the plight of the Jews.
Finland
threatened to declare war on Germany if any of her
Jewish citizens were harmed. Yugoslavia and Greece
flatly
refused to cooperate with the Germans if one Jew was touched by the Nazis. Not so Poland! Without a single
voice raised in protest, Poland handed over its Jewish population for
slaughter. They paid dearly for their anti-Semitism. While Finland has enjoyed
at least some measure of independence, Poland would spend the next forty-five
years under Soviet domination, from which it has not recovered.
Nazi
anti-Semitism exacted a terrible toll. There were seventeen million battle
casualties; eighteen million civilians perished as a direct result of warfare,
and twelve million people were murdered by the Nazis. The truth about the death
camps was no longer a guarded secret — it shook the world. The sight gagged
battle-hardened American G.I.’s, who walked into concentration camps to
liberate the dazed, half-starved, hollow-eyed survivors. They had lost all but their
lives.
What
did Nazi anti-Semitism cost the Germans? Max Dimont describes the price.
The
Germans who in 1933 had jubilantly `heiled’ their Fuehrer, could now mournfully
count their dead: 3,250,000 battle deaths, 3,350,000 civilian dead, and some 5,000,000
wounded. Of 20,000,000 buildings, 7,000,000 were completely destroyed or
severely damaged. The Germans, who time after time had complained to the world
that they were destitute . . . somehow found $272,000,000,000 to spend for
their six-year war. Hitlers do not come cheap 48
AD
the atrocities cannot be described in this brief space. Yet you should be aware
that the United States of America was spared like cruelty by the bravery of our
fighting men who have insured our freedom and secured our escape from a similar
fate. This is one reason why I frequently honor the military from this pulpit.
Their sacrifice has preserved our right and privilege to assemble and study the
Word of God daily.
Thank
God for those heroes, and pray for our men in uniform as you have never prayed
before. Only our attitude of pro-Semitism and the deeds of our stalwart
military have saved this country from the doom of Nazi Germany.
HITLER’S DEMON POSSESSION?
In
Hitler, Satan found a willing and eager vehicle, considering this man’s twisted
soul, his thwarted ambitions, his grudge against society, his vicious hatred of
Jews and Christians. His dabbling in astrology and neopaganism would afford
easy access to satanic viewpoint and influence. He would readily seize the
devil’s offer: “ . . . All these things will I give you . . . “ (Matt. 4:9).
Apart
from the explanation of demon possession, it would be improbable for a man of
Hitler’s mediocre abilities and lackluster personality to command the near
worship or to formulate the sinister policies he instituted. The hypnotic
magnetism he exuded could only be Satan-endued, as were the fiendish tactics
that put Hitler’s schemes into operation. This attempt to exterminate the Jews
on a scale never before seen in history marks a desperate satanic maneuver.
Satan realizes that the time for his opposition to the plan of God is rapidly
running out.
Not until the Hitler era did racism really come into its own where the Jew was concerned. Prior religious, individual, and economic anti-Semitic prejudices were replaced by irrational racial bias and mass hysteria on a national scale. The fabric woven from the myth of a German super race was manufactured out of the pit of hell, as were the atrocities this evil spawned.
On
the one hand, the myth of racial superiority implanted in the German minds
accentuated their place of power. Intoxicated with the illusion of their nation
as supreme and the world groveling at their feet, they adored their beloved
Fuehrer for perpetrating this pretentious goal. On the other hand, this man was
more than power-mad; he was evil personified. His authority was established
through terror, his followers held by fear dared not incur his rage.
Who
were these people with whom Hitler surrounded himself, his elite inner circle?
What were they like? Skilled statesmen? Suave politicians? Polished diplomats?
No! They were a motley array of sadists, masochists, murderers, drug addicts,
and sex perverts.
Only
a demon-possessed mind revels in such company that allows every evil and
malignant impulse of the old sin nature free rein and expression. By removing
all restraints from the old sin nature, by organizing and legalizing brutality
— even rewarding the perpetrators with the confiscated wealth of Nazi victims —
Hitler maintained his hellish followers. The fact that such men and women, the
very dregs of humanity, were elevated to the highest offices demonstrates to
what heights degenerates can ascend in Satan’s domain.
Satan
must have been exultant during those twelve years of murderous orgy. His
kingdom was rid of millions of “undesirable aliens” — Jews and Christians. But
Jesus Christ still controls history. Anti-Semitism cannot go unpunished
indefinitely. God will never allow the complete destruction of the Jew.
Although He may use such disaster for the discipline of a “stiff-necked people”
and remind them of their reed to turn to Yahweh
(Lev. 26:14-46; Deut. 28), He
continues to preserve His chosen people.
When
the end did come, the “glorious” Third Reich went down ingloriously. The master
race was overwhelmed by “inferiors.” Those who had once hailed the Fuehrer now
hailed the liberators with equal fervor. Once they had sworn undying loyalty to
the Nazi regime; now they hastily discarded their uniforms and claimed they
were unwilling dupes. As for their Fuehrer, they alleged to have never really
supported him; they had always held that he was nothing but a madman, a
murderer, an evil man.
And
the Fuehrer? The Fuehrer lay dead in an underground bunker in blazing Berlin.
On 30 April 1945, he shot himself
through the mouth. His gasoline-drenched body was dumped in a shell crater
outside the bunker and burned beyond recognition. His day of infamy was over;
an era of ignominy had finally ended. Hitler was survived by the very Jews whom
he had sworn to eradicate from the face of Europe.
In
the days that followed World War 11, all known Nazi collaborators were brought
to justice. In the end, they, too, became the victims of the evil system they
had served with such enthusiasm.
A principle of
Scripture was thus fulfilled in the destruction of the destroyer.
Behold,
he travails [labors] with wickedness, and he conceives mischief [becomes
pregnant with sin], and brings forth [gives birth to] falsehood [a life of
deceit]. He has dug a pit and hollowed it out, and has fallen into the hole
which he made. His mischief [sin, perverseness] will return upon his own head,
and his violence will descend upon his own pate [top of his head]. (Ps.
7:14-16)
AMERICA AND ANTI-SEMITISM
The
United States cannot afford anti-Semitism. There are too many examples of
tragedies that befall nations which either turn their backs on the Jews or
actively persecute them. This raises a serious question: How real is the
existence and threat of anti-Semitism in the United States of America, a land
traditionally known as a haven for all freedom-loving people?
As
a nation, America has generally deplored anti-Semitism. In fact, our
Constitution precludes it. Like all who have chosen to come to our shores, the
Jews have been absorbed into the tapestry of freedoms unique to the American
way of life. They are accorded the same privileges and status which the
Constitution guarantees all law-abiding citizens, regardless of origin, race,
or creed. They have equal opportunities and equal responsibilities.
Contrary
to present popular ideas, there are no “hyphenated Americans.” Either you are
an American, or you are not. Too often today new immigrants and already
established ethnic groups demand the retention and recognition of their old
cultural standards which fragment rather than unify our society.
The
history of the Jew in America has been one of mutual blessing. The Jews have
personally benefited from the freedom and opportunity they enjoy here, and the
United States, providing a refuge for them, has been richly blessed by God. Let
us continue to hope and pray that Jews will always be welcome in this country
Association with Jews began in 1621, when the first large scale Jewish
immigration arrived from Spain. Yet Jews landed on American soil long before
then. Records show Jews served in Columbus’ small flotilla as able-bodied
seamen, map readers, interpreters, and surgeons. In fact, efforts of Jewish
scientists and cartographers, men like Abraham Cresques and his son Judah who
first charted navigational maps, facilitated Spanish explorers in finding their
way across the ocean.
A
considerable number of prominent people in American history were Jews. Jews
fought in the first War for Independence; Jewish financiers backed and honored
the virtually worthless bills of exchange to procure supplies for the
Continental Army of General Washington. Haym Solomon donated his entire
personal fortune to the noble cause.
Jews
have supported this country in all of her wars. They fought in the War of 1812
and in the Mexican War. Moses Albert Levy, a surgeon, and Abraham Wolf, a
soldier, fought and died gallantly at the Alamo. Jews eagerly joined the ranks
against Germany in the First and Second World Wars. Many of our finest officers
and leaders were Jews.
The
roster of outstanding American Jews is impressive. This illustrious group
includes business and professional men, scientists and artists. Jewish
financiers and philanthropists such as the Rosenwalds, the Guggenheims, and
Nathan Straus have enriched our museums with their generous donations and
fabulous art collections. They also established concert halls and theatres, as
well as hospitals, schools, and homes for the aged.
Jews
have enriched American lives by contributing to our musical and theatrical
heritage. Who has not hummed the patriotic tune “God Bless America” or the
holiday favorite “White Christmas” by Irving Berlin? Whose heart has not been
stirred by the challenge of Sigmund Romberg’s “Stouthearted Men”? The musicals
of Jerome Kern and the classics of George and Ira Gershwin are as synonymous
with American music as the sounds of Benny Goodman’s orchestra are to the big
band era. Many superb plays and books have come from the pen of a Jew, and
America’s motion picture industry owes its very existence to Jewish
entrepreneurs like Louis B. Mayer and Samuel Goldwyn.
Brilliant
Jewish minds like Jonas Salk furthered medicine by developing an effective
vaccine against polio and isolating streptomycin. A Jew first discovered
vitamins. Jews greatly advanced scientific farming in our nation. A. A.
Michelson measured the velocity of light. Albert Einstein changed forever the
world of physics by his experiments in the theory of relativity, statistical
mechanics, and the photon theory of light. In short, Jews were prominent among
those who helped make America the most advanced country on earth.
Their
endeavors, combined with the industry of the new Jewish immigrants, ensured
that their poor would not become a burden on the state. Characteristically,
despite the squalor from which many of the penniless Jewish refugees began
their climb up the ladder of success, families stayed intact. Crime,
immorality, and illegitimacy were kept to a minimum. Defeatism and resignation
to life in the slums were practically nonexistent.
Until
the year 1880, anti-Semitism was virtually unknown in these United States.
America needed people and welcomed all who would make their home here. Those
who did come knew the value of freedom. They had experienced discrimination or
persecution and had left the old country to make a life for themselves in the
new world where people were accepted on their own merit. They could go as far
as their inclination and ability would take them. The essence of Americanism is
“that all men are . . . endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable
Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.”49
Anti-Semitism
is anti-American. This virulent curse found its way across the ocean from
northern and eastern Europe, where it intensified toward the end of the
nineteenth century. As European immigrants poured into this land of
opportunity, they brought with them not only their skills and their culture but
some brought their prejudices.
These
bigots failed to see that America’s greatness is built on free enterprise and
contributions by all its citizens. They feared that the Jews would crowd them
out of business and professions as they had allegedly done in Europe.
Clannishly, they stuck together in their own neighborhoods and social circles,
excluding the Jews. They missed the invigorating experience that comes from mingling with new ideas and
cultures.
Certainly,
some enterprising Jews, who had started business with a peddler’s tray on a
street corner, rapidly expanded their investments into shops. Shops grew into
department stores and accumulated fortunes for their owners. But the same was
true of enterprising Gentiles. Far from being restrictive, competition in
business stimulates growth and creates wealth which energizes the economy of a
nation. What is detrimental to any society is deeply ingrained prejudice.
Prejudice
is a preconceived opinion excluding reason or fair discernment of facts.
Prejudice is a manifestation of jealousy and pettiness motivated by arrogance.
Intolerant people are quick to believe hearsay, especially when it is damaging
to others. And prejudice, whether carefully ingrained or superficially
acquired, is difficult to overcome.
Prejudice concerning the Jew is suicidal to any nation. To
America’s credit, although there are currently signs of a marked increase in
anti-Semitism, we have never permitted this blight to become rampant in our
country.
Anti-Semitism surfaced briefly immediately preceding World
War I and again in the 1930’s .Before World War II, anti-Semitism was revived largely by
instigation from Germany. With the revival in the 1940’s, a new phenomenon
emerged in American thinking; in a land which had long welcomed all foreigners,
certain ethnic groups were singled out. Anti-Semites were emboldened by the
increasing tendency to blame the Jews for national problems. Attempts to limit
immigration primarily affected the Jews, so Rational Americans were deeply
disturbed by those trends and tried to right this wrong.
The following is a quotation
from Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt, Jr.:
During the years immediately before World War II Ted [Roosevelt, Jr.]
was troubled by the increase of anti-Semitism in the country. Believing that
this could be fought more effectively by Christians than by the Jews
themselves, he brought the subject up in every speech he made. In answer to a
letter he received in 1941 saying that it was the Jews themselves who were
primarily responsible for this intolerance, he wrote:
“From the standpoint of this country the question of who is
responsible in whole or in part is entirely beside the point. The fact is that
we hurt ourselves — the United States — more by persecuting the Jews than we
hurt the Jews. If we persecute any racial or religious group we are committing
a grave offense against our concept of government.”51
ANTI-SEMITISM
AND CONSERVATIVE POLITICS
Anti-Semitism
expresses itself chiefly in three areas: socioeconomic, religious, and
political. Regardless of where anti-Semitism occurs, the destructive force is
eventually identifiable.
A
case in point concerns American conservatism. Conservatives are primarily
interested in the good of America, strongly adhere to the principles of freedom
and divine establishment, and are intensely patriotic. But for decades they
have had difficulty establishing political influence. Liberalism has held sway
in the political, social, and philosophical arenas of the United States. One
reason: Unenlightened or misguided conservatives often take anti-Semitic
positions.
The
conservative movement has been infiltrated by an anti-Semitic element that
castigates Jews as “generally liberal and left wing.” Consequently, enough
conservatives have fallen prey to anti-Semitic conspiracy theories that the
overall movement has been damaged. Regardless
of how politically astute a conservative may be, if he becomes anti-Semitic he
no longer represents America’s best interest.
Anti-Semitism
has blinded many to the true issues facing our nation. Misunderstanding the
communist conspiracies, virulent anti-Semites have attributed the source of
these conspiracies to the Jews. The fact that Marx and Trotsky — two of the
progenitors of communist ideology — were born of Jewish parents in no wise
implies the guilt of all Jews or justifies their condemnation. Engels, Marx’s
closest collaborator, was instrumental in developing communist philosophy, yet
he had no Jewish family connection whatsoever.
Marx,
baptized and brought up a Christian, later repudiated Christianity and Judaism.
He was influenced by anti-Jewish ideas that were rampant in socialist circles
of the last century. His famous essay “On the Jewish Question,” published in
1844, was a classic of anti-Semitic propaganda. In this, Marx identified the
Jew with all the most disagreeable characteristics of the greedy and predatory
capitalist order which he was seeking to overthrow.52 Of course, Marxist socialism of the type adopted by
the Soviet Union and her satellites has been a miserable failure.
Trotsky
was a non-professing Jew, an intellectual idealist and revolutionary, whose
long feud with Stalin incurred Soviet discrimination against the Jews of Soviet
Russia. None of these men are representative of the Jewish people. If anything,
Russia’s treatment of its Jewish population should convince misguided conservatives
that communism and Judaism are antithetical.
THE SOLUTION TO
ANTI-SEMITIC PREJUDICE
The
irrational belief in Jewish conspiracy theories has translated into genuine hostility.
The Jews have become the perfect “whipping boys” for all manner of financial,
political, and social calamities surrounding humanity. Whatever your political
persuasion, you should not distort the truth and insist that the Jew is the
root of all the world’s problems. Never propose that any problem would be
solved by being rid of the Jew.
The
real problem is threefold. First, the devil rules this planet in his evil way
(Luke 4:4-6; 2 Cor. 4:4). Second, the inner culprit, the inborn sinful nature
of man (Rom. 5:12), is the source of all our personal troubles and depravity.
And third, our own bad decisions account for most of our misfortunes and create
self-induced misery (Gal. 6:7-8).53
Any
effort to blame or eradicate the Jews would only compound our problems and in
the end destroy us, as anti-Semitism has destroyed every nation that ever
raised a hand against God’s people. There is a solution for this innate problem
of mankind. This solution begins by simply believing in Christ as your Savior.
Believe in the Lord
Jesus, and you shall be saved. (Acts 16:31b; cf., 2 Cor. 5:17)
Salvation is a free
gift of God which one receives “by grace through faith.”
For by grace you have
been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
not as a result of works, that no one should boast. (Eph. 2:8-9)
Finally, by learning Bible truths, you grow to
spiritual maturity.
But grow in the grace
and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. (2 Pet. 3:18a)
The result is a
biblical perspective of Israel and the Jews’ proper place in God’s plan.
But
remember, there is a vast difference between religion and Christianity.
Religion is a system whereby man, by his own efforts and merits, seeks to gain
salvation or the approbation of God — an effort doomed to failure.
As it is written,
“There is none righteous, not even one.” (Rom. 3:10)
For all have sinned
and fall short of the glory of God.
Religion persecutes the Jew; biblical
Christianity reveres the Jew.
Christianity
is a personal relationship with God through faith in the person and finished
work of Jesus Christ. The Christian cognizant of God’s Word knows that
anti-Semitism is strictly forbidden (Gen. 12:3; Jer. 12:14; Zech. 12:3; Rom.
11:18-24). Believers must never forget or conveniently overlook the fact that
Jesus Christ is a Jew in the royal Davidic line, “the King of Kings and Lord of
Lords” (Rev. 19:16). How can anyone worship the Lord God of Israel and at the
same time seek the destruction of His people?
God
will never honor anti-Semitism. The American, whether believer or unbeliever,
who participates in anti-Semitic activities or supports anti-Semitic policies
contributes to the decline of the United States.
ANTI-SEMITIC
CLAIMS AND THEIR REFUTATION
As
a rule, anti-Semitic claims are blanket stereotypical allegations. We have
already discussed one such example in the proposition that the Jews are to
blame for the world’s problems and therefore should be destroyed. Other false
statements include: “The Jews are unethical in their business practices and
cannot be trusted!” and the ludicrous conspiracy theory “The Jews monopolize
and manipulate the international money market!”
Other
types of anti-Semitic vituperations are slurs or accusations by innuendo. These
vary from derogatory adjectives, coupled with the word “Jew,” to a mention of
the “Khazars” or a reference to the Protocols
of the Elders of Zion. These unscrupulous terms claim Jewish duplicity.
Just how factual are these claims?
KHAZAR THEORY
Arab
countries today have developed a false concept that permeates the teaching of
history in Arabic schools and is popularized in their media.” This concept
proposes that all or nearly all of the ancient Semitic peoples who inhabited
the Fertile Crescent, including the Israelites, Canaanites, Phoenicians,
Assyrians, and Babylonians, were Arab ancestors.” By adopting these Semitic
groups, the Arabs lay exclusive claim to all the land of the Middle East.
Consequently, Islamic imperial expansion from the seventh century to the
present day is justified as a war of liberation to reclaim rightful territory.
This Arab claim could
not be disputed were not one of these Semitic peoples still in existence — the
Jews. The Jews bear the same name, speak the same language, and profess the
same religion as their ancient Israelite ancestors. The Jews who live in
Palestine today are definitely not Arab forerunners.
There
have been various attempts by Arab anti-Semites to whitewash this discrepancy.
One hypothesis includes the revival of an old theory that the Jews of Europe
are not of true Israelite descent but, instead, are the progeny of the
Khazars.”
Who
were the Khazars? They were semi-nomadic, Tataric in origin, a Turkic-speaking
people who first appeared north of the Caucuses in the late second century A.D.
In the fifth century they were subjugated by the Huns but rose to power two
centuries later. Charging across the Russian steppes, these legendary warriors
conquered the Crimea and extended their empire from the western shores of the
Caspian Sea to the River Don, from the southern Ukraine to the region north of
the Black Sea and as far as Kiev. They fought the Persians and Armenians; they
battled Arab expansion, which was inspired by the advent of Islam after the
death of Mohammed in 632. In addition, they fought the Byzantine Empire, which
forcibly tried to make them Christian.
The
“khakan” or ruler was also the religious head of state of the Khazars. Tolerant
of other religions, the khakan welcomed thousands of Jews from Asia Minor and
the Byzantine Empire as well as Mohammedans
and Christians. These three religious groups vied to convert the Khazars who
practiced a primitive idolatrous religion.
In
A.D. 740 after considering the various religious viewpoints among these groups,
the khakan embraced Judaism for himself and his people. His conversion was a
compromise between Christianity and the religion of Islam. While Judaism was
accepted as the official religion of the empire, the Khazar state still
maintained tolerance toward other religious groups. The empire continued until
A.D. 965 when it was overthrown by a coalition of Christian Russians and the
Byzantines.
If
the Khazars, not the biblical Israelites, are indeed the ancestors of European
Jews, then European Jews have no connection with God’s people of the Old
Testament, and do not fall under the protective auspices of Genesis 12:1-3.
Since European Jews constitute the largest group of immigrants in present day
Israel and in the United States, how much easier for anti-Semites to discredit
and persecute those whom they consider to be impostors, disconnected with that
elect, Old Testament race of people. Anti-Semites sometimes cite this
“loophole” to justify their hatred and persecution of Jews. Also, Middle
Eastern Arabs can reject the Semitic background of Jewish immigrants to
Palestine and thereby preserve the concocted view that gives sanction for
conquest of the Land.
The
Khazar theory was first proposed by an Austrian anthropologist in the early
years of this century. But there is not one shred of evidence to support its
validity. Serious scholars have long since abandoned the notion. However, many
anti-Semites continue to use the Khazar myth to vindicate their prejudicial
racial theories.
PROTOCOLS OF
THE ELDERS OF ZION
How
did the Jew, long caricatured as the tragicomical, homely peddler, wearing the
yellow patch of Jewry, suddenly acquire the image of world conspirator? The
concept was first born in the hate-filled imagination of a French Catholic
writer by the name of Edouard Drumont in 1886.
Drumont
recognized the Jews’ intellectual abilities, business acumen, and talent for
success; he feared that eventually the Jews would dominate France and Europe by
their skillful cunning. Totally disregarding fact or logic, Drumont laid the
foundation upon which other anti-Semites would build and expand their fictions
against the Jews in France. No doubt his book, La France Juive (The French Jew), created the clime for
the heinous accusation of Captain Dreyfus in 1894.
The
Jews, however, did not achieve their present erroneous label as international
conspirators until 1903 when a Russian monk, Serge Nilus, published a document
entitled The Protocols of the Elders of
Zion. This book was Nilus’ answer to a request from Czar Nicholas II whose psychopathic
phobia of the Jews was well known. The Czar needed “proof’ to justify his
anti-Semitic sentiments and actions.
Nilus
claimed that the book was an exact transcript of a secret meeting held by the
elders of Zion in 1897, when they supposedly plotted the disintegration of
Christian societies, the instigation of world revolution and wars, and the
disruption of education. Since then, Protocols
has served as the basis for worldwide anti-Semitic propaganda.
The
absurdity of the Protocols would
strain the rationality of all but the most prejudiced person. Does it never
occur to those who believe in the veracity of the Protocols how unlikely this conglomeration of accusations is? Would
the Jews, who are presumedly revealing their own plot, really describe
themselves as the agents of evil and do so using the vocabulary of
anti-Semitism?
Nilus later admitted that he had forged the documents.
However, he also claimed to have acted as “God’s instrument” and thought that
the Protocols should be accepted as though they were true: For a while,
then, Nicholas 11 interdicted the publication of the book but it continued to
be printed. As had been calculated, Protocols
sowed the seeds of intense anti-Jewish agitation. During the Bolshevik
revolution of 1917, the White Russians revived the Protocols to convince the Russian people that the so-called
revolution was a Jewish plot to dominate Russia. The result was massacres of
Jews during the Russian Civil War and the spread of “the forgery” across
Europe. Hitler cited the Protocols in his book Mein Kampf and neo-Nazis have continued to exploit international
conspiracy fears as a plot of the Jews.
Whenever
anyone tries to blame the disasters of this world on one collective group of
people, the motive is always evil. An entire race cannot be condemned for the
actions of a few individuals. Certainly the stage for modern history was set by
a number of diabolical international plots. Conspiracies have emerged
throughout history, each having central protagonists. These protagonists are
not confined to any one race.
What
does this prove? Only one thing — people
are responsible for machinations and plots. Everyone possesses a sin nature
(Rom. 3:23), which is the spawning ground for intrigue. But behind every evil
international plot is Satan himself (Rev. 12:9).
IMPUGNING JEWISH
ETHICS
As
for the other claims — unethical business conduct and Jewish monopoly in money
matters — these, too, are satanic propaganda. In international money matters,
by far the greater proportion of financiers and bankers are Gentiles. Some Jews
do lack integrity, but dishonesty exists in every race.
Unfortunately,
American society is not immune to these infectious lies. There never has been a
Jewish plot in modern history to overthrow the duly established authorities in
any nation. And there is no Jewish international conspiracy now. What can be
concluded? The Jews are always under attack.
Personal
prejudices must not be racially oriented. Because an offensive person happens
to be from a certain race that does not make the entire race guilty by
association. There are individuals in every ethnic category who are unethical.
By the same token there are honorable people in every ethnic group.
No believer in the Lord Jesus Christ can justify being anti-Semitic.
God curses and disciplines individuals and groups, including believers, who
harbor antagonism toward the Jews. America was founded on biblical principles,
one of which is pro-Semitism. Bible teaching, missionary activities,
evangelism, and our pro-Semitic policy strengthen our country as a client
nation to Gods’
Our
politicians have bartered away our resources, sacrificed principle for
expediency, and blundered in so many decisions that by every rule and law —
from Bible doctrine to common sense — this country has abused freedom. If
anti-Semitism proliferates in America, we will cease to be a nation. Yet we are
still hereby the grace of God and so are the Jews. God still directs history.
Conspiracies come and go, but God has never failed to keep His promises. The
Jews figure prominently in God’s gracious plan. Never forget that fact!
FALSE TEACHING AND
ANTI-SEMITISM
Christian
beliefs have often been blamed for anti-Semitism even in America. Let me
correct this misconception: Christian beliefs
do not give rise to anti-Semitism; rather ignorance, perversion, and distortion
of Christian beliefs spawn anti-Semitism. Such false teaching must be
exposed (Eph. 5:11). Unless we first know the truth, we cannot possibly discern
error.
THE CHARGE OF DEICIDE
One
of those corrupt beliefs is derived from the erroneous teachings of an early
church father by the name of St. John Chrysostom who lived in the fourth
century He charged the Jews with deicide —
that is, with the “murder of God” in the person of Jesus Christ. Disparagingly,
he railed that ail Jews, a plague to the world, were hateful to God forever.
Therefore, he determined it was God’s will
that they suffer agony and destruction.
The charge is utterly ridiculous and opens a veritable
Pandora’s box of heinous crimes against the Jewish people. The term “deicide”
is unreasonable and patently false. Any student of Scripture knows there is no
greater power than that of sovereign God and that He possesses eternal life
(Ps. 90:2). He can neither die nor be put to death by mortal man.
However,
the plan of salvation called for the substitutionary death of an innocent,
perfect Person in place of guilty sinners. This was clearly portrayed in the
Levitical sacrifices (1 Pet. 1:18-20). 58 For this reason the
eternal Son of God took on the form of true and sinless humanity. As the
God-Man Savior, Jesus Christ came to redeem fallen man from the penalty and
power of sin (Isa. 53; cf., 2 Cor. 5:21). His death on the cross could only
have occurred with His consent. Who, then, is
blameworthy for the crucifixion of Christ?
The
Lord’s own words cleared the Jews once and for all from the ludicrous charge of
deicide. He declared:
I
am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep . . .
I lay down my life . . . No one has taken
it away from me, but I lay it down on my own initiative. I have authority
to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I
received from my Father. (John 10:11, 17, 18, italics added)
The
Jews are not the “Christ-killers” whom the anti-Semites would have them be.
Although many Jews rejected Jesus as the Messiah, only a small faction — the
religious leaders in Jerusalem, the chief priest, and the Pharisees — actually
plotted His death (Matt. 26:3-5; John 11:46-53). Still others, those average
citizens in Roman-occupied Judea, believed in Him (John 11:45), the faith
response which determined their eternal future.
For
God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten [uniquely born] Son, that
whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God did
not send the Son into the world to judge the world; but that the world should
be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not
believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the
only begotten [uniquely born] Son of God. (John 3:16-18)
Under
the law of culpability as stated in Deuteronomy 24:16, Jeremiah 31:2930, and
Ezekiel 18:2, fathers could not be held liable, penalized, or blamed for the
sins of their children, nor children for the sins of their fathers. Rather,
each person is held accountable for his own sins. Thus, the oft quoted cry of
the conspirators, “His [Christ’s] blood be upon us,
and on our children” (Matt. 27:25), no more invoked an
eternal curse on all Jewry than the
figurative hand washing ritual of Pilate absolved him from passing the death
sentence on Jesus Christ, a man he knew to be totally innocent (Matt. 27:24).
The Jewish religious leaders immediately involved with the crucifixion were
merely sealing their own doom, not pronouncing an eternal curse on all Jews.
Seeing
that Pilate could be manipulated, the seeds of rebellion were sown and Israel’s
destruction insured. In A. D. 63, thousands of restive Jews would be crucified
on that very spot, and in A. D. 70 an even greater tragedy would overtake them.
In the siege and destruction of Jerusalem they would suffer over a million
casualties.59
Does
the blame for the crucifixion rest on Pontius Pilate? Again, only in the sense
that he was culpable for his own decision. Pilate had interrogated Jesus and
had found Him above reproach (John 18:38; 19:4, 6). Yet Pilate lacked the moral
courage necessary to back up his conviction. His investigation, which proved Christ
innocent of any crime, offered Pilate the best reason not to pronounce the
death penalty. But given to vacillation, Pilate sought a compromise solution to
placate the hostile religious leaders. He feared the implications of their
threat,
If you release this
Man, you are no friend of Caesar. (John 19:12b)
Admittedly, Pilate had
boasted of his authority and power to either crucify Jesus
or set Him free (John 19:10). Yet Jesus clarified the issue by His statement:
You would have no
authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above. (John 19:11a)
Pilate was in a
quandary. God in His omniscience knew Pilate’s dilemma and used it to bring His
Son to the cross. Therefore, Jesus completed His answer to Pilate by stating,
“For this reason he who delivered Me up to you has the greater sin” (John
19:11b).
Obviously
Jesus was referring not to God the Father who had “delivered Him [Jesus] up for
us all” (Rom. 8:32). God cannot sin. Rather, Jesus was indicting one person —
the high priest, Caiaphas (John 18:24, 28-29). The magnitude of Caiaphas’ sin
lay first of all in his rejection of Jesus Christ and, secondly, in his
ruthless use of others Pilate, the Roman soldiers, the incited, howling mob to
carry out his evil design (John 16:2).
Yet
Caiaphas’ treachery, Pilate’s decision based on political expediency, the
vicious plot of the Sanhedrin,60 as well as the role of the Roman
soldiers who carried out the execution, were all exonerated when Jesus prayed,
“Father, forgive them;
for they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34)
To these words, the Apostle Paul adds,
“For had they known
[Him], they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” (1 Cor. 2:8; cf., Acts
13:27)
The
Bible concludes that all members of the human race are sinners (Rom. 3:23). As
sinners, we cannot meet the perfect standards of God. We are totally incapable
of meeting our debt (Isa. 64:6; Titus 3:5). Jesus Christ met that obligation
for us. One purpose only sent Him to the cross to bear the sins of the entire
human race. There, hanging between heaven and earth, Christ was judged for
those sins and our debt was canceled (Col. 2:14).
We
all share the sinner’s condemnation, as well as the offer of salvation (Rom.
6:23). It amounts to this:
Where sin increased,
grace abounded all the more. (Rom. 5:20)
God the Father’s love
compelled Him to sacrifice His Son. Christ’s love for mankind compelled Him to
endure the agony and humiliation of the cross (Rom. 5:8; cf., Heb. 12:2). In love
the Holy Spirit reveals the plan of salvation to the unbeliever (John 16:8-11).
The crucifixion is not a matter of murder but of grace, for the cross was God’s
provision for man’s sinfulness long before man was created.
COVENANT VERSUS
DISPENSATIONAL THEOLOGY
Unfortunately,
incorrect Bible teaching is not limited to the early Church alone. One branch
of current orthodox theology, which leaves the door ajar to anti-Semitism, is
Covenant Theology. In contrast to Dispensationalism, Covenant Theology blurs
the distinction between Israel and the Church, denying Israel as a nation the
fulfillment of the unconditional covenants promised by God. While no reputable
Covenant theologian derives anti-Semitism from this view, some Christians could
possibly misconstrue covenant tenets as a basis for anti-Semitism.
Covenant theologians perceive Israel not as a racial and
national entity to whom God made unconditional promises, but as a spiritual
(regenerate) people of God.61 Since Israel disobeyed God, Covenant
theologians contend that the Church assumes the role as “spiritual Israel.”
Thus, the Church, which began as a remnant of Old Testament believers, is
continuous with true Israel. The unconditional covenants originally given to
Israel are now transferred to the new spiritual people, the Church. In his Systematic Theology Dr. Lewis Sperry
Chafer writes:
The Covenant Theory
does retain Israel as such to the time of Christ’s death. The Church is thought
to be a spiritual remnant within Israel to whom all Old Testament blessings are
granted and the nation as such is allowed to inherit the cursings.62
This
final premise is fraught with potential anti-Semitism. It denies that the Jews
have a national future and overlooks the obvious reference to Israel in the
biblical promise:
God has not rejected
His people whom He foreknew. (Rom. 11:2a)
If spiritual
(regenerate or true) Israel, not national Israel, were the only recipient of
the Genesis 12:3 promise of preservation, and if the Church is now “spiritual
Israel,” then the anti-Semitism clause no longer protects unregenerate Jews.
Based on this view, Christians might indeed find an excuse to blame and
persecute Jews for a myriad of problems. Furthermore, to interpret the term
“Israel” in the New Testament as exclusively signifying “spiritual Israel,”
meaning the Church, disavows that the word can have other meanings in context.’
At
the Second Advent of Jesus Christ true Israel in contrast to the Church will
enter into the fulfillment of the unconditional covenants (Rom. 9:6-7).
Throughout Israel’s history there was always a requirement of faith in Yahweh for individual Israelites to
become true Israel (Gen. 15:6; cf., Rom. 4:1-3). But this regenerate Israel was
still part of the nation. In the Millennium the entire nation, regenerate and
unregenerate, will benefit from the
physical aspects of the unconditional covenants — the Land, a king, and
blessing — but the unregenerate cannot receive the eternal aspects of the
covenants. Regenerate Israel was the catalyst for Old Testament prophecies that
depict a future for Israel as a nation.
The
New Testament never confuses Israel and the Church. Even though the Age of
Israel and the Church Age share in God’s grace way of salvation, this fact
alone does not constitute proof that
the Church is now “spiritual Israel.” The Church did not originate in Abraham’s
tent but on the day of Pentecost. The book of Acts, which describes
characteristics unique to the beginnings of the Church, also delineates obvious
uses of the term Israel in the national sense in order to maintain the
difference between the two entities (Acts 3:12; 4:10; 5:21; 21:28). When Peter
spoke to the “Men of Israel” in Acts 2:22 he was alluding to ethnic Jews not to
the Church. Likewise, when Paul addressed “my kinsmen according to the flesh”
(Rom. 9:34), he was speaking to racial Jews. And the Israelite congregation of
Acts 7:38 was never included in the New Testament Church.
To
assert that regenerate Israel throughout its history is equivalent to the
Church is to miscalculate the uniqueness of the Church. One cannot undervalue
references in Scripture to the “Mystery Age” — the Church (Eph. 3:8-10) — as
well as to the changes brought about by the coming of the Holy Spirit (Acts
1:5, 8; Acts 2).64
Dispensational
Theology exposes the shortcomings of Covenant Theology. Even though today the
dispensational interpretation of the Bible is increasingly ridiculed,
Dispensational Theology holds the key to understanding the Scriptures in their
proper perspective. Dispensationalism clarifies the difference between Israel
and the Church and defines the Christian’s modus operandi and his
relationships.
Israel was founded ethnically with Abraham (Gen. 12:2) and
nationally with Moses (Ex. 3:8-10; cf., 19:5-6. This Jewish Age continued up to
the time of Jesus Christ.65 Interrupted by the Church Age, the
Jewish era resumes after the Rapture of the Church and terminates seven years
later with the Second Advent of the Lord.
There
are startling differences between these two dispensations. In the Age of
Israel, there was a specialized priesthood, the Levitical Priesthood (Num.
18:1, 2, 8). The enduement or empowerment of the Holy Spirit was limited to
only a few believers such as rulers, judges, priests, artisans of the
Tabernacle, or builders of the Temple, but these believers could lose the Holy
Spirit through persistent carnality (Ps. 51:11; cf., 1 Sam. 16:14). Another
outstanding characteristic of the Jewish Age was Israel’s sole custodianship of
God’s Word (Rom. 3:12). One nation was responsible for the dissemination of the
Gospel and scriptural truth (Isa. 43:1012).
In
445 B.C., dating from the decree by
Artaxerxes Longimanus (Neh. 2:18) to restore and build Jerusalem, the Jews were
promised 490 more years to evangelize other nations (Dan. 9:24-26). The term
“seventy weeks” used by Daniel refers to a literal period of 490 years.
However, seven years short of the time allotted to them for this particular
operation, the cross occurred — Messiah was “cut off’ as prophesied in Daniel
9:26 — and the Jewish Age was halted. But God still owes Israel seven more
years, and He will keep that promise during the Tribulation, a period called in
Scripture the “time of Jacob’s distress” or that “seventieth week” of Daniel 9.
The
Church Age is the present dispensation on the divine timetable. In the Church
Age, the Royal Family, a holy nation, a chosen race, called the “Church,” made
up of every born-again believer, Jew or Gentile, (1 Pet. 2:9; cf., Rom. 10:12;
Gal. 3:28), assumes unique responsibilities in the plan of God.
The universal Church is an organism, not a national
organization. Regardless of the nation or geographical location in which the
believer resides, every one now is a member of the “body” (1 Cor. 12:12ff), a
royal priest (1 Pet. 2:5), and an ambassador for the absent Christ (Rom.
1:14-16; 2 Cor. 5:18-20). Every member of the Royal Family is permanently
indwelled by the Holy Spirit (John 14:16; 1 Cor. 6:19-20) and has the completed
Canon of Scripture, as well as unique divine operating assets.66
While on earth, the Church is called the “Body of Christ” (Eph. 5:23); in
heaven, the Church becomes the “Bride of Christ” (2 Cor. 11:2; Rev. 19:6-8).
The Church is God’s heavenly people (Heb. 12:22-23); Israel is God’s earthly
people (Deut. 14:2; Isa. 66:22). Israel walked by sight (Ex. 4:30; Ps. 78:12; 1
Cor. 1:22); the Church walks by faith (2 Cor. 5:7).
Unless
these distinctions between Israel and the Church are maintained, a believer
cannot orient to the Christian. life-a supernatural way of life, executed in
the filling of the Holy Spirit, which includes a proper attitude and respect
for the Jews. To blur these distinctions is to cause confusion, and “God is not
a God of confusion” (1 Cor. 14:33). The blurred distinctions are the danger of
the erroneous teaching of Covenant Theology.
The
entire Bible and the structure of Christianity depend on recognizing that God
made four unconditional covenants with Israel — not with the Church. Either God
must keep His covenant with the nation Israel to whom He made the promise or He
is false to His Word, which is unthinkable and blasphemous (Num. 23:19). The
covenant theologian’s position in amalgamating Israel and the Church denigrates
the character of God and cannot be supported by Scripture. The Jews have a
national future and will always be very much a part of the plan of God.
BRITISH ISRAELITISM
When
the Word of God is not accurately taught, spiritual growth declines and
apostasy prevails. One form of this -apostasy is “British Israelitism.” Found
in a variety of churches, the insidious fellowship adroitly proclaims a garbled
version of prophecy. Driven by a similar motivation as the adherents of the
Khazar myth, the followers of British Israelitism seek to discredit Jewish
origins. They too perpetrate the fiction that the Jewish race today is not
descended from Abraham. With a baffling mixture of Scripture taken out of
context and spurious historical claims, they argue that the Anglo-Saxon people
are the true Israel, and thus, the recipients of the unconditional covenants.
Followers
of British Israelitism allege that when the Southern Kingdom of Judah fell in
586 B.C., Zedekiah’s daughters (Jer.
41:10) escaped death by fleeing to Egypt (Jer. 44:1214) and then found refuge
(Isa. 37:3132) with Jeremiah sailing to one of the “isles of the sea” (Jer.
31:10). The “isles” were Ireland and later England where these Israelites
became the royal house of England .67
But
this royal linkage is not the only fabricated connection between Anglo-Saxons
and Israel. They also allege that commoners among Anglo-Saxon people in
England, Germany, Holland, and other European lands are descended from the ten
lost tribes of Israel. Presumably this refers to the ten tribes of the Northern
Kingdom who were taken into captivity in 721 B.C. British Israelites claim that
these tribes wandered across Europe, filtered through many nations (Amos 9:9),
and eventually settled in England.
British
Israelites pride themselves in being the progeny of the ten lost tribes of
Israel. These mixed up Gentiles insist that the ancient Israelites were not
Semites; therefore, Jews today, all of whom are Semites, must be excluded from
the genealogy of Israel. They deny the Jews their rightful place in God’s plan
for the nation Israel. They claim for themselves, as the Anglo-Saxon
descendants of the ancient Israelites, the blessings of the unconditional
covenants. As proof of this theory, British Israelites extol the historical
blessings accorded to Anglo-Saxon culture that culminated in the rise of the
British Empire. These blessings, in contrast to the hideous persecutions that
have plagued the Jews for centuries, confirm their status as the elect race.
This
entire scenario is utter nonsense.
Close scrutiny of the hermeneutics employed in interpreting
various texts of Scripture that British Israelites use to bolster their racial
theory reveals untenable exegetical methods. Likewise, no creditable historian
supports the racial and national arguments made by this group.68
Only
a few scattered groups of dedicated British Israelites remain in the United
States. But their influence is to be found in somewhat distorted form in
publications like Herbert W. Armstrong’s The
Plain Truth.69 An even more sinister group, a pseudo-Christian
movement called “Identity churches,” has incorporated these false teachings
into a more virile guise. These so-called “churches” are essentially
hate-mongers that promote the superiority of the white race. They `identify’
themselves as “true Israel,” Aryans, white Anglo-Saxons. Relentless
vilification of the Jews and racial bigotry are the cornerstones of their
blasphemous “theology.”
British
Israelites also contend that as David’s offspring they have the same spiritual
responsibilities as their ancestors. What are these responsibilities? They must
keep the Sabbath and the Ten Commandments. They must adhere to the “kosher”
(dietary) food regulations imposed under the Mosaic Law for the Israelites’
safety. They must observe the Passover and other holy days.
What
does the Scripture say? The dietary laws of the Old Testament were set aside
after the Church Age began (Acts 10:916) and are no longer an issue (1 Cor.
10:2333). The special feast days are now defunct and the Christian is to
consider each day alike as a grace gift from God (Rom. 14:6).
While
British Israelites are prone to blame the problems of the world on the Khazars
or Jews in general, they blame the troubles of America and Britain on failure
to comply with the Decalogue and on the worship of materialism rather than the
worship of God. Undoubtedly our nation is deteriorating because principles of
divine establishment, morality, and spirituality are rejected by increasing
numbers of our citizens. There is no new morality, only the old immorality
disguised in modern garb.
The Ten Commandments are a summary of divine mandates
pertaining to freedom, protection of life, liberty, and property of a specific national
entity, Israel. However, when any nation operates under the principle of divine
establishment, not only individual freedom and happiness but national stability
and prosperity result. Where these commandments and accompanying principles are
constantly violated by a majority of a population, that nation is headed for
disaster.
Nevertheless,
while the United States was founded upon these fundamental truths, Mosaic
legislation was never given to anyone
but the Jews (Ex. 19:3; Lev. 26:46). The Law was never intended for the
Gentiles (Deut. 4:8). Jesus Christ fulfilled the Law in every detail (Matt.
5:17), and now that Law is abrogated for the Church (Rom. 6:14; 10:4; Gal. 2:19).70 Since Christ is the end
of the Law where believers of the Church Age are concerned, the Christian, both
Jew and Gentile, is subject to a higher law — the “law of the Spirit of life in
Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:24; 1 Cor. 13; Gal. 5:18, 2223).
Sad
to note, yet typical of our day, many succumb and blindly accept manmade
gimmicks and false gospels while readily rejecting the truths of the Word of
God. The pernicious effects are evident in the subjective thinking of the
present generation. The fact remains no one can walk with one foot in the Law
and the other in grace.
To
know the difference, the Scriptures must be exegeted in the light of
dispensational truths and in the context in which they were written. Therefore,
when anyone claims that the Jews today are not descendants of Abraham, avoid
them; separate yourself from apostasy in obedience to Second Corinthians 6:17,
Second Thessalonians 3:14-15, and Second Timothy 3:5.
35.
Many zealous anti-Semites erroneously interpreted Matthew 27:25 as proof that
the Jews asked for all the trouble and persecution which they received.
36.
Aragon and Valencia had a twenty percent and thirty percent minority population
of Moors, respectively. Encyclopaedia
Britannica, 1970 ed., s.v. “Spain,” 1092.
37. 1950 ed., s.v. “Spain,” 1863.
38.
Max I. Dimont, Jews, God and History (New
York: Simon and Schuster, 1962), 231.
39.
A client nation is God’s specifically protected representative on earth. The
purpose of a client nation is to be the center of Bible teaching, evangelism,
and missionary activity. See The Divine
Outline of History, 35-37, 67-69.
40. These are
principles set up by God for the survival, protection, perpetuation, andorderly
function of the human race during the angelic conflict. See Divine Establishment (1988), 45, 9093.
41. The term
designates the promised kingdom of Messiah (Davidic Covenant) in which Messiah
would defeat the armies of the world for Israel and reign for a thousand years
(Rev. 19:1920:4), restore Israel to the Promised Land, and make universal peace
a reality on earth (Isa. 11; 35; 65:17-25).
42. If the Rapture of
the Church were to occur in the very near future, then the current nation of
Israel could be the nucleus of the regathering.
43. By comparison, in
1939 the combined Moslem and Christian population — mostly Arabs — numbered
approximately one million people.
44. Demon possession
is invasion and control of the body of an unbeliever by a fallen angel(s) (Dan.
10:20; Mark 5:113; Luke 4:3236; 8:27; 9:39-40, 42; John 10:21). Certain
characteristics of Hitler’s abnormal behavior coincide with descriptions of
demon possessed people in the Bible. The characteristics include convulsions
(Mark 1:26; 9:20), violence (Matt. 8:28), raving (Mark 5:5), and foaming at the
mouth (Mark 9:20; Luke 9:39). Possession can occur through idolatry, drug
addiction, the phallic cult or other cultic religious activity, extreme or
prolonged hatred or vengefulness, astrology and necromancy. Hitler was involved
in most of these activities. See Demonism,
1840, 6264, 9293.
45. John Toland, Adolph Hitler (Garden City, New York:
Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1976), 359.
46. Jews, God and History, 381-82.
47. The Encyclopaedia Judaica devotes two
hundred forty thousand words, contributed by 109 writers and editors on the
subject of the “holocaust.” All known facts and statistics are listed and many
of the atrocities illustrated. The shocking horror of it all makes virulent reading.
48. Jews, God and History, 387.
49. The unanimous
declaration of the Thirteen States.
50.
The same situation is occurring today. In 1989 the United States set down new quotas
for the immigration of Soviet citizens. At the moment when hundreds of
thousands, mostly Jews, are free to leave Russia for the first time, no more
than fifty thousand a year will find refuge in America. See Danielle Pletka, “
Exodus A Godsend for Israel,” Insight 6 (21 May
1990):
19; and “Soviet Jews Finding Themselves Stranded,” The Houston Post, 3 March 1990, Editorial section, A33.
51.
Day Before Yesterday (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1959), 417.
52.
Lewis, Semites & Anti-Semites, 112
53. Christian Suffering (1987), 1517.
54. Lewis, Semites
& Anti-Semites, 47-48.
55.
The Fertile Crescent, situated between the Arabian Peninsula in the south and
the mountains of Armenia in the north, extends from Babylonia up the Tigris and
Euphrates rivers to Assyria. From Assyria it continues westward over Syria to
the Mediterranean and south to Palestine. Contained in this area are Babylonia,
Assyria, Egypt, and Phoenicia.
56. Lewis, Semites and Anti-Semites, 48.
57.
A client nation designates a particular relationship of blessing between trod
and the nation which adheres to these spiritual and establishment principles.
58. Levitical Offerings (1973), 1030.
59. Josephus, “The
Wars of the Jews,” Book Vl, ix.
60. The Sanhedrin was
a governing assembly composed of high priests (the acting high priest, those
who had been high priests, and members of the privileged families from which
the high priests were taken), elders (tribal and family heads of the people and
priesthood), and scribes (legal assessors), Pharisees, and Sadducees. See Unger’s Bible Dictionary, 1976 ed., s.v.
“Sanhedrin.”
62. L.S. Chafer, Systematic Theology, 8 vols. (Dallas:
Dallas Seminary Press, 1948), 4:311.
63. Scripture uses terms like “Israel,” “Jew,”
“seed of Abraham,” and “chosen people” in at least four senses: (1) The
biological descendants of Abraham (Rom. 9-11); (2) the political sense (Jer.
3:11): (3) a spiritual sense that applies to any individual or group regardless
of racial background who are regenerate, i.e. the spiritual sense may be used
to distinguish mere biological Jews from Jews echo are both biologically and
spiritually related to God as in Romans 4:6ff.: and (4) a typological sense.
See John S. Feinberg. ed.. Continua; and
Discontinuiti (Westchester. Illinois: Cross«as Books. 195), ‘_.
64.
A “mystery” in the New Testament is something that was previously hidden but is
now revealed (Rom. 16:25; 1 Cor. 2:7, 10).
65. See The Divine Outline of History, 29-30.
66. Tite Divhte otttlitte of Hirtorlv, 8o-141.
67. Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, 1984 ed.,
s.v. “British Israelitism,” by 1. Hexam.
68. Ibid. 69. Ibid.
70. See The Divine Outline of History, 33-35, 57-58.
5
The
Biblical View of Anti-Semitism
THE AUTHOR OF
ANTI-SEMITISM
THE ANNALS of HISTORY prove
conclusively that anti-Semitism is a masterstroke of evil genius. The author
and sponsor is that phenomenal prehistoric super creature, Lucifer, who was
renamed Satan in his fallen state. Anti-Semitism is one of the primary weapons
used in his attempts to usurp the plan of God. As the absolute commander of all
fallen angels (Matt. 9:34; 12:26), comprising one third of the heavenly host
(Rev. 12:4), he has thrown his entire organization into the conflict (Eph.
6:10-12). His rulership over this planet (Luke 4:57; Eph. 2:2) gives him the
distinct advantage of being able to manipulate the nations of this world (Rev.
12:9; 20:3, 8). One of his foremost strategies is to annihilate the people who
figure so prominently in God’s design — the Jews.
The
success of that strategy is self-evident. Satan’s cleverness can be seen in the
gullibility of otherwise intelligent people who readily swallow the devil’s
colossal lies regarding the Jews. Another confirmation is the intense
persecution of the Jews by a broad assortment of peoples, the likes of which no
other race in history has experienced. Yet another indicator is the constant
agitation by the Arabs, the half-brothers of the Jews. The Arabs have long been
in dispute with the Jews over the ownership of the promised Land.
Yet
these are not the only manifestations where the prince of darkness influences
the affairs of this world. The very fact that anti-Semitism also afflicts some
believers is an additional triumph for satanic strategy. For those who have no
anti-Semitic tendencies, he has alternate plans. One of his obvious objectives
is the destruction of the focus in the Christian life — Bible doctrine. If the
believer is ignorant of Bible doctrine and does not know his enemy, he easily
becomes a casualty of this spiritual warfare.
By
appealing to human arrogance, by suggesting temporal solutions to problems only
God can solve, by advocating human crusades designed to improve the devil’s
world, Satan seeks to divert the believer’s attention, purpose, and energies from
spiritual growth. Thus, the believer is rendered ineffective in the angelic
conflict, and Satan scores another tactical victory.
Cleverly
substituting religion for the truth of the Word of God, the devil blinds
unbelievers to the Gospel (2 Cor. 4:3-4) and distracts believers from the
Christian way of life (1 Tim. 5:15). By opposing Bible doctrine and sponsoring
rebellion against divinely established law and order, Satan attempts to fulfill
his purpose of making himself “like the Most High” (Isa. 14:13-14). To this end
he encourages revolt against God, but never against himself.
Recent trends in the United States illustrate the
fascination with the powers of darkness. Never before in our history have
Americans been so preoccupied with Satanism, the occult, witchcraft, and
mysticism. Drug addiction and dabbling in demonism have opened the door to
Satan-worship with all its attendant evils. Animal and even human sacrifices
have become increasingly prevalent and more blatant, as Satan’s adherents
attempt to glorify “the god of this world” (2 Cor. 4:4). Tarot cards and the
Ouija board vie with astrology charts and palm readers for the attention of
those who never before went beyond seeking their future in a fortune cookie.
No
wonder “a deluding influence” (2 Thess. 2:11) threatens the very fabric of our
nation. Satan knows that a deluded people are a neutralized people. Now, if he
can persuade the United States to continue its drift toward anti-Semitism, so
much the better; we would cease to be a client nation to God.
Why
should Satan purposely cause upheaval and turmoil in his own domain? For a
simple reason: so he can offer a bewildered world longing for peace nebulous
visions of a utopian future, which can only be established by Christ at His
Second Advent. To accomplish this goal, every wicked means to that end is
justified. In Satan’s opinion, one of the most efficient strategies for
securing his domain would be the elimination of Jewry.
Satanic
antagonism against the Jews is well documented throughout the Old Testament and
is predicted in the New Testament. Only the methods vary — never the objective.
The devil’s initial purpose was to foil the coming of Christ into the world by
destroying the lines of Adam, Abraham, and David. After Christ was born,
Satan’s subsequent goal was to hinder Jesus from going to the cross. He failed
at this as well: Now his aim is to prevent the Lord’s second coming to rescue
the Jews and set up the millennial kingdom.
During
the present dispensation as Satan’s time grows short, the angelic conflict is
greatly intensified. His frustration and fury is unleashed primarily against
the Royal Family — the Church. Secondarily, Satan’s attack involves violent
outbursts of anti-Semitism. However, none of these waves of anti-Semitism can
compare to the persecutions which are yet to come when the Church is removed as
the primary target, and the restraining ministry of the Holy Spirit is also
removed.
SATANIC STRATEGY TO HINDER THE PLAN OF GOD
A brief survey of Satan’s strategic attempts to reach his
objectives depicts his unrelenting hatred of God and His chosen people. More
than that, Satan’s failure proves God’s eternal faithfulness in preserving His
own and perpetuating His plan.
1. The attack on Adam’s seed (Gen. 3:15)
a. The
murder of Abel, accomplished through Satan’s indwelling of Cain (Gen. 4:8; cf.,
1 John 3:12)
God’s counterattack: substitution
of Seth (Gen. 4:25); the Messianic line
perpetuated (Luke 3:23, 38)
b. The
angelic infiltration to corrupt the human race (Gen. 6:1-13)
God’s counterattack: the
flood and preservation of Noah and his family (Gen. 6:7; 8:1)
2. The attack on Abraham’s seed
a. Sarah taken to Pharaoh’s harem (Gen.
12:10-16)
God’s counterattack: Sarah
delivered by the Lord’s intervention (Gen. 12:17-20)
b. Pharaoh’s
command to murder all Hebrew male infants (Ex. 1:15-16)
God’s counterattack: the
birth and preservation of Moses (Ex. 2:1-10)
c. Pharaoh’s
attempted destruction of the Israelites at the Red Sea (Ex. 14:5-12)
God’s counterattack: the
destruction of Pharaoh and his forces (Ex. 14:26-28)
3. The attack on David’s seed
a. Jehoram’s
murder of his royal brothers (2 Chron. 21:15) God’s counterattack: Philistine and Arab invaders seize and sell
Jehoram’s family into slavery; youngest son, Jehoahaz, preserved (2 Chron.
21:16-17)
b. Athaliah’s murder of the royal seed (2
Chron. 22:10)
God’s counterattack: the
rescue of Joash (2 Chron. 22:11-12); Athaliah executed (2 Chron. 23:10-15)
c. Hezekiah
left childless and near death at a time when Assyria threatened war (Isa. 36:1)
God’s counterattack: the
destruction of the Assyrians (Isa. 37:3637); Hezekiah’s life extended (Isa.
38); royal line promised (Isa. 39:7)
4. Haman’s plot to exterminate all Jews in the
Persian Empire (Esth. 3:6ff)
God’s counterattack: the
Jews delivered (Esth. 7); Haman and anti-Semites executed (Esth. 7:10ff)
5. The attack on
Joseph’s seed (Matt. 1:16), the legal line to the throne of David
a. Mary’s
pregnancy and Joseph’s nobility (Matt. 1:1819; cf., Deut. 22:14, 20-21; 24:1)
God’s counterattack: divine
revelation and instructions (Matt. 1:20-25)
b. Herod’s
command for the slaying of infants (Matt. 2:16-18) God’s counterattack: divine revelation and instructions to flee to
Egypt (Matt. 2:13)
6. The attacks on
Christ during His Incarnation
a. The
satanic temptations in the desert (Matt. 4:1-10; Luke 4:1-12)
b. The attempts to stone Jesus (John 8:59;
10:30-39)
c. The
temptation to forego the cross (John 12:27; Luke 22:39-44)
d. The
attempts to kill Jesus before He reached the cross (Matt. 27:26, 29-30; Mark
14:65; 15:15, 19; Luke 22:63-64)
e. The
temptation to come down from the cross (Matt. 27:40-44; cf., Matt. 26:53-54)
God’s counterattack: the
strengthening of Jesus Christ (Matt. 4:11; Luke 22:43); the Father’s
reassurance (John 12:28); the Son’s determination to obey the Father’s will
(John 12:27; 17:4; 19:30); the Son’s sustenance by the Holy Spirit (Luke 4:1)
and doctrine (Ps.31:5)
7. The attack on the
Word of God (Gen. 3:1; Luke 8:12; 2 Cor. 4:4)
God’s counterattack: the
preservation of the Canon despite every effort toward its destruction (Matt.
24:35; cf., Isa. 40:8;
1
Pet. 1:25)
8. The attack on the
Royal Family (Eph. 6:12; 1 Pet. 5:8)
God’s counterattack: combat-readiness
and strengthening in the intensified stage of the angelic conflict (Eph.
6:10-18; 1 Pet. 5:7-10; 1 John 4:4)
9. The
attack on Israel in the Tribulation (Dan. 12:1; cf., Matt. 24:4-26; Rev. 1213)
God’s counterattack: the
deliverance of the Jews at the Second Advent of Christ (Joel 2:20ff; 3:16;
Zech. 14:29, 11) and destruction of their enemies (Zech. 9:1415; 14:1214; Rev.
19:21); incarceration of Satan (Rev. 20:13)
10.
The Gog and Magog rebellion (Rev. 20:78)
God’s counterattack: the
annihilation of the last revolutionaries (Rev. 20:9); Satan’s final judgment
(Rev. 20:10)
ANTI-SEMITISM AND THE ANGELIC CONFLICT
Anti-Semitism,
like so many other trends in history, is simply a fallout from the angelic
conflict, which has raged since “before the foundation of the world.” If Satan
has any remaining hope to emerge victorious in this conflict of the ages, this
hope hinges on the destruction of the Jews. Were he successful in wiping out
every trace of Jewry from the face
of the earth, God would find no Jews to deliver nor could He fulfill His
national promises to Israel; hence, the Second Advent could not occur.
We
know from Scripture that angelic convocations are held periodically in heaven to
consider historical trends (Job 1:612; 2:17; Zech. 3:17). Therefore, man is
under close scrutiny by both elect and fallen angels (1 Cor. 4:9). We also know
that Satan as the ruler of the world and Jesus Christ as the One who controls
human history both influence earthly events, with our Lord always having the
sovereign power to overrule the machinations of Satan (Ps. 33:10-19; 135:5-6)
and preserve mankind.
As
the author of evil in this world, including anti-Semitism, Satan has tried from
the first appearance of Jews in history to eradicate them in the most devious
ways. Never has one race been the target of such animosity and terrible
persecutions; yet the Jews have survived their tormentor. According to God’s
promise there will never be a generation in human history without a
representation of Jews, regenerate or unregenerate. Every time you see a Jew
you should be reminded of God’s faithfulness. Satan may be the ruler of this
planet, but even he can accomplish
only what God permits. Anti-Semitism is of the devil and can never fully
succeed.
The
principle that Satan is the author of anti-Semitism is delineated in Revelation
12. Here the past and future of this great evil are clearly depicted and
described by the Apostle John:
And a great sign
appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet,
and on her head a crown of twelve stars. (Rev. 12:1)
Verse 1 introduces a
vision of a woman clothed in dazzling garments composed of the sun, the moon,
and twelve stars. Who is she? What does all this signify?
Scripture
always explains Scripture; this is a law of hermeneutics, or textual
interpretation. Once before, the sun, moon, and stars appeared together as a
part of a divine revelation. It was in Joseph’s prophetic dream (Gen. 37:5, 9ff).
That dream concerned the Jews, as does this particular sign. In the Genesis
narrative Joseph’s father, Jacob, was instantly aware to whom these heavenly
bodies referred. He soundly reprimanded Joseph by saying,
What is this dream
that you have had? Shall I and your mother and your brothers actually come to
bow ourselves down before you to the ground? (Gen. 37:10b)
The
“sun,” therefore, represents Jacob; the “moon,” his wives Rachel and Leah; and
“the crown of twelve stars” symbolizes his brothers, the twelve patriarchs of
Israel. Taken together they portray the Jewish people, who will always exist on
the earth.
The
woman in the sign is Mary, and she is shown in her relationship to Israel as a
descendant of Jacob’s line. Mary could trace her lineage — the royal blood line
to the throne — to the house of Judah through Nathan, son of David and
Bathsheba (Luke 3:31-34); her husband, Joseph, descended from the legal line
through Solomon (Matt. 1:4). Both lines had crossed. This sign spans the
centuries, from the time of Jacob and the patriarchs to the “fulness of the
time” (Gal. 4:4) and introduces the promised Savior.
And she was with
child; and she cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth. (Rev. 12:2)
God
chose Mary to bring Messiah into the world. He is the seed of the woman of
Genesis 3:15 and was supernaturally conceived by the virgin Mary through the
agency of the Holy Spirit (Isa. 7:14; cf., Luke 1:30-35). Revelation 12:2
projects a dramatic moment from the past as though it were about to occur: the
virgin birth of Jesus Christ.
In
this birth, as in all others, there is intense pain (Gen. 3:16). Consequently,
the woman screams out as the labor pains rack her body. This meaning is
conveyed by the Greek verb krazo.
Labor pains will always be a reality and will occur at intervals until the
child is delivered.
Now
the scene changes:
And another sign
appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten
horns, and on his head were seven diadems. (Rev. 12:3)
The second sign
presents the archenemy, Satan, in symbolic form as the “great red dragon.” The
term “dragon” was first used by Homer and Aeschylus. Drakon in the Greek is derived from the verb derkomai, which means “to see clearly, to have perspicacity.” Superior
intelligence and foresight aptly describe the devil’s assets which have enabled
him to deceive nations and peoples on the earth as he once deceived the woman
in the Garden.
WORLD EMPIRES
AND ANTI-SEMITISM
His
appearance is awesome. The present tense of echo,
meaning “to have and to hold,” depicts Satan as having “seven heads.” Six
of those heads review a section of history and refer to the six great empires
which in the past attacked and sought to destroy Israel. They include Egypt,
Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Graeco-Macedonia, and Rome. With the exception
of Egypt, all these nations once administered severe discipline to the Jews.
Just as God “spanks” His children on an individual basis when they step out of
line (Heb. 12:6), so God used these empires to discipline Israel for the same
purpose.”
Egypt
originally enslaved the Jews during the reigns of Thutmose I and Amenhotep II. A thousand years
later Assyria administered the fifth cycle of discipline to the Northern
Kingdom in 721 B.C. and simultaneously the fourth cycle to the Southern
Kingdom. Babylon, later known as Chaldea, completely devastated Judah in 586
B.C. and carried the survivors into captivity. Medo-Persia sponsored the return
of the Jews to their native land and extended benevolent treatment toward them.
But a later king, Xerxes I, a duped anti-Semite, tried to destroy the Jews.
Graeco-Macedonia
was also kindly disposed toward the Jews in the beginning. Yet later
Hellenistic monarchies under the Ptolemies and the Seleucids turned against
Jewry. In A. D. 70 Rome dispensed the fifth cycle of discipline to Judah. This
began the present dispersion of the Jews and the prophetic judgment of
Leviticus 26:27-39 and Deuteronomy 28:47-62 was fulfilled for the last time.
Thus these past empires, at one time or another, were willing tools in the
attempted annihilation of the Jews.
Represented
as the seventh crown and the ten horns in Revelation 12:3, the final empire
dispenses the last vial of intensified anti-Semitism against the Jew. The ten horns
are a confederation of nations, the future Revived Roman Empire.72
These are the “feet and toes” nations in the image of Daniel 2:41-45 and are
identical to the satanic organization of Revelation 17:12-13. John describes
this confederation as:
the beast that . . .
was [the Imperial Rome of his day, in A. D. 96] and is not [no longer in
existence after A. D. 476], and is about to come up out of the abyss [sponsored
by Satan in the Tribulation] and to go to destruction [at the close of
Armageddon]. (Rev. 17:8a)
However, before
vanishing forever from history, the Revived Roman Empire will contribute
immeasurably to the suffering of both Christians and Jews.
But
before that future anti-Semitism is detailed, Revelation 12:45 continues to
look at the past. In the first half of verse 4 the prehistoric events, which
followed Lucifer’s rebellion, are summarized and the removal of the fallen
angels from heaven is confirmed:
And his [Satan’s] tail
swept away a third of the stars of heaven [angelic creatures who followed Satan
at his first fall], and threw them to the earth. (Rev. 12:4a)
The angelic conflict
is still a heavenly conflict, although repercussions have extended to planet
earth since the creation of mankind. There will come a time when all fallen
angels will be evicted from heaven and exiled to the earth. That expulsion will
take place in the middle of the Tribulation.
SATAN’S ULTIMATE
DEFEAT
The
distant future and prehistoric past merge into a single occurrence in John’s era
— the virgin birth of Jesus Christ.
And the dragon stood
[with antagonism] before the woman [Mary] who was about to give birth, so that
when she gave birth he might devour her child [Jesus]. (Rev. 12:4b)
Because Satan fully
comprehends that Jesus as the Messiah was the fulfillment of Genesis 3:15 and
the beginning of his end, he assumed the position of adversary of the Jew from
the time of Abraham to the very moment of the incarnation. He tried his utmost
to cut off the Messianic line. Often only one surviving member of the royal
lineage remained to fulfill God’s plan. Yet God faithfully preserved the line
of Christ, and Satan’s fiendish strategy failed. Satan was again present to
frustrate the coming of the One who was both the Son of God and the Son of Man.
This personal attack was concentrated against the greatest of all Jews, the
Lord Jesus Christ. Imagine the devil’s impotent fury when he realized that he
could no more hinder the First Advent than he could destroy the ancestry of
Jesus.
And she gave birth to
a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron; and her
child was caught up to God and to His throne. (Rev. 12:5)
The
futuristic present infinitive of poimaino,
“to rule,” states the certainty of Christ’s millennial reign as the Shepherd of
Israel, while the reference to the “rod of iron” indicates the absolute justice
of His rule. The concept of the first strategic victory in the angelic conflict
is couched in terms of the “catching up” of the child to God and His throne.”
During
the entire thirty-three-and-a-half years that our Lord was on the earth, Satan
constantly opposed Him by throwing temptations into His path and instigating
assassination plots. Yet God provided the needed power and protection for Jesus
to fulfill His purpose. To triumph over Satan, the Savior must go to the cross,
bear the sins of the world (1 John 2:2), and be judged in our place (1 Pet.
2:24; cf., 1 John 3:8). He did so as the sinless Son of God, because He is
undiminished deity — equal with God. He did so as perfect man because He was
also fully human. His substitutionary spiritual death on the cross became the
basis of our salvation and sealed Satan’s doom (Heb. 2:14-15).
When
you understand what Christ has done — that He was judged as a substitute for
you so you might have eternal life with God — and decide to receive His gift of
salvation, you have fulfilled the
requirement to believe in Him. Faith alone in Christ alone is salvation.
Believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved. (Acts 16:31a)
The faith you express
by believing in Christ does not reflect any credit upon you. Believing, as an
act in itself, does not make you good enough to merit God’s approval. The
object of faith, Jesus Christ, has all the merit. The work of Christ on the
cross, not your faith, makes your salvation possible. But nevertheless, you are
saved the moment you believe in Christ.
Once
Jesus Christ accomplished His objective and was seated at the right hand of
God, the believers’ acceptance in God’s presence was assured, as also our
position as members of the Royal Family of God (all races and nations, Gal.
3:28), and our function as a Kingdom of Priests. The Church Age had begun.
Satan can do nothing about that, nor can he stop the formation of the Body of
Christ. Individual human beings with free volition will continue to become
believers in Jesus Christ.
Satan
continues to make life challenging for the Royal Family. Occasionally he
hinders the effective function of the Church, but he can never stop the course
of the Church Age. One option left to him is to vent his fierce rage on the
Jews. Satan knows only too well that God has planned a glorious future for
Israel. He must thwart that promised future at any cost. He must check the
overthrow of his own kingdom by the destruction of as many Jews as possible
before the Rapture takes place; then he must exterminate these Jews who are
left during the Tribulation. If Satan succeeds, God would find it impossible to
keep His promises to Israel, for there would be no Jews to rescue and no Jewish
client nation to rule.
With
that aim in mind, Satan seeks to terminate any possibility for a second
strategic victory for Jesus Christ. The Jews must be removed. This is the
biblical explanation of anti-Semitism wherever it is found.
ANTI-SEMITISM IN THE
FUTURE
It
is highly unrealistic to think that man will eventually set aside his
prejudices, particularly toward the Jew. For example, assume that our lawmakers
introduce additional legislation that favors and protects the Jew. Would this
improve human relations? Far from it! Mandating against real or imagined
prejudice only aggravates the undercurrent of resentment. At best, statutory
compliance can be hoped for; but tolerance and love can never be legislated.
If
a change is to come about in man’s attitude toward other human beings, that
transformation must come from within. Since man possesses a sinful nature and a
penchant for prejudice, the answer to his problems is not human reformation but
spiritual regeneration, followed by the changes wrought by Bible doctrine in
the soul. As long as Satan is the ruler of this world, he will stir up
hostility against the Jewish people. Anti-Semitism will continue to exist overtly
or covertly until prejudice erupts into unprecedented violence in the middle of
the Tribulation.
THE GREAT TRIBULATION
The
sixth verse of Revelation 12 skips over the Church Age and the first
three-and-a-half years of the Tribulation and presents a future exodus of the
believing remnant in Israel.
And
the woman [represents believing Israel in the last half of the Tribulation]
fled into the wilderness [the hills and caves of Edom, Moab, Ammon, and Petra]
where she had a place prepared by God, so that there she might be nourished for
one thousand two hundred and sixty days [the final three-and-a-half years of
the Age of the Jews]. (Rev. 12:6)
What
will occasion the flight of these Jews? They will correlate Tribulational
events with biblical prophecy and align their decisions and actions to
pertinent biblical instructions. To sum up these events in sequence: The
Rapture will have taken place, and the one hundred and forty-four thousand
Jewish evangelists will have gone forth to
reap a great harvest of souls (Rev. 7:4, 9-10) among the Jews, especially
in the Middle East.
For
once, the Jews will feel secure. They will have signed a treaty with the
dictator of the Revived Roman Empire, a Gentile, which they assume will ensure
their national safety for the next seven years. For certain monetary
considerations and payments in the form of natural resources the pact will
stipulate that the armed might of the Revived Roman Empire will rush to the aid
of Palestine in the event of enemy attack (Dan. 9:27; c£, 11:38-39).
The
Temple will have been rebuilt by then, and the sacrifices and rituals
prescribed in the Old Testament reinstituted. The nation will be at ease before
their trust is shattered. Halfway through the Tribulation, while the treaty is
still in force, the dictator of Palestine will issue a new law: Henceforth all
sacrifices in the Temple shall cease! In their place, a statue of the dictator
of the Revived Roman Empire will be set up in the Most High Place for mandatory
worship (Dan. 9:27; 12:11; cf., Rev. 13:15).
The
Jews will be stunned by the incredible news. What secret negotiations between
their politicians and religious leaders could have concocted this new policy?
Must they relinquish their beliefs and traditions to the exigencies of
ecumenism and idolatry?
What
the general population fails to realize is the true nature of this future
dictator of Palestine. His character sketch, presented in the Bible, shows that
behind a mask of religiosity and gentle benevolence lurks an egomaniacal
tyrant. He is variously identified as “the false prophet” (Rev. 16:13; 19:20),
Dan, the serpent (Gen. 49:16-17), and the willful king (Dan. 11:36-40).
A
rarely discussed form of anti-Semitism is prejudice toward Jews by other Jews.
Remember that Jesus Christ was a Jew in His humanity; yet most of the
opposition He encountered came from Jews (John 10:31; 11:47-53). In an effort
to prove their complete assimilation into their immediate surroundings, some
Jews take on the anti-Semitic attitude of Gentiles. They may find Jewish
orthodoxy obnoxious and resent those Jews who are conspicuous for their long,
black caftans, beards, and side locks. On the other hand, orthodox Jewry may
shun reformed or atheistic Jews.
In this country, some well educated European Jews, who have
immigrated to the United States and have prospered, regard their less refined,
Eastern European counterparts with disdain and often with pity. Captain Dreyfus
reportedly preferred gentile company and had little sympathy for his Jewish
compatriots. The future dictator of Palestine falls into this category. He
himself, a Jew from the tribe of Dan, will seek the destruction of his own
nation by selling out to the gentile dictator of the Revived Roman Empire, a
willing capitulation to demonism.
Under
intense pressure, the population of Israel will have an explicit choice. If
they resist this latest chicanery, they face deprivation and death (Rev.
13:15-17). Many Jews will weaken and meekly submit to the mark of the Beast —
that future identification card patterned after the Roman soldier’s serial
number burned on his forehead or the back of his hand for all to see. Since
most of these people will be unbelievers, they will readily accept what appears
to be an opportunity to remain alive. In reality, however, their capitulation
to the ecumenical dictator only guarantees their own misery and ultimate
destruction (Rev. 14:11; 16:2).
But
do not be too hasty in your condemnation of these desperate people. You never know
what you might do until you face a similar situation. Remember that Peter, a
believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, succumbed to cowardice when his loyalty to
Jesus was tested. At that time, he denied the Lord to save his life (Matt.
26:69-74), but this disloyalty led only to terrible self-reproach and bitter
tears (Matt. 26:75). Your alternative to betrayal is preparation for disaster
by learning and applying God’s Word, leaving the results in the hands of the
Lord (Ex. 14:13; 1 Sam. 17:47).
Jewish
believers in the Tribulation who are knowledgeable in doctrine will heed the
Lord’s warning.
Therefore
when you see the Abomination of Desolation [the statue of the Roman dictator]
which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet [Dan. 9:27], standing in the
holy place (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to
the mountains. (Matt. 24: 1516; cf., Dan. 11:41; Rev. 12:6)
For then there will be a great tribulation [disaster], such
as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever shall.
And unless those days [the Tribulation] had been cut short, no life would have
been saved [delivered]; but for the sake of the elect [believers] those days
shall be cut short. (Matt. 24:21-22)
Prophecy,
as in Matthew, often has a near and a far fulfillment. In the context of A.D. 70 the Jews are warned to flee from
the siege of Jerusalem and the desecration of the Temple by the Roman legions
of Titus. The same warning will extend with greater urgency to flee from the
armies of the Beast in the days of the Great Tribulation. When the trap is
sprung the Jews must take immediate action to survive.
Let him who is on the
housetop [roof garden] not go down to get the things out that are in his house
[to pack]; and let him who is in the field [at work] not turn back to get his
cloak. But woe to those who are with child and to those who nurse babes in
those days! But pray that your flight may not be in the winter, or on a
Sabbath. (Matt. 24:17-20)
How
intensely practical are the words of our Lord. The precaution and haste which
He indicated will be absolutely necessary. The setting up of the image in the
Temple at Jerusalem will signal the greatest wave of anti-Semitism the world
has ever seen. This is the alarm signal for those Jews who know and believe
God’s Word. Forewarned, they will flee to the places specified in Scripture,
where they will find safety and divine provision for their survival.
The
plight of these Jewish evacuees will be desperate. People who have been spared
the horrors of warfare can scarcely comprehend the accompanying hardships and
terrors. The tragedy which civilians must face when their country is attacked,
invaded, and conquered is devastating.
During
World War II,
when France fell to the Germans, all roads were crowded with refugees trying to
escape the Nazi advance. Most were older people, women, some of whom were
pregnant, and small children. These refugees carried what pitiful possessions
they had been able to salvage; others had lost all but their lives.
Then
came the merciless enemy aircraft strafing as terrified civilians scurried for
cover. Those who had stayed behind fared little better. The havoc wrought by
direct enemy assault, the slaughter and atrocities committed against
defenseless populations is a price which every defeated nation must pay. These
gruesome scenes have been oft-repeated in both ancient and modern times. They
will reoccur until the Lord returns (Matt. 24:6). The only way to prevent war
is for each generation to be so well prepared for combat that no nation will
dare to attack (Judges 3:2).
THE SIEGE OF JERUSALEM, A. D. 70. One
of the worst disasters ever to affect the Jews in Jerusalem was the siege of A. D. 70. While that calamity was a
result of divine discipline rather than an expression of anti-Semitism, the
siege serves as an appropriate illustration of that incomparably greater
destruction which is yet to come.
Flavius
Josephus, the Jewish historian, provides the most detailed eyewitness account
to this holocaust. The horrors defy description.74 The Holy City,
Jerusalem, reeled under the onslaught of wave after wave of Roman infantry as
battering rams crashed incessantly against the gates.
Inside
the walls, the Zealots, whose fanatical hatred of the Romans prompted their
every action, held the city in a tyrannical grip. Jews, known for moderate
views and pro-Roman sentiments, were ruthlessly executed. Bands of robbers and
cutthroats roamed the streets at will, and no one was permitted to leave the
city on penalty of death. Clashes between the Zealots and other groups who
opposed them were inevitable. One night, as a result of vicious street
fighting, the entire food supply of the city was accidentally set aflame. Six
to seven years’ provisions were lost and the city now faced starvation.
At that time of the year, Jerusalem was teaming with
hundreds of thousands of Jews arriving in the city for Passover. They found
themselves trapped in a veritable hell-hole of hunger and pestilence. The
stench of the dead and dying was unbearable to all but loathsome thieves who
stripped corpses of their belongings. In utter despair, the Jews ate even the
rats in the streets, and in the end many resorted to cannibalism.
The
carnage inflicted by the enemy from without and by the enemy from within was horrendous.
Thousands fell prey to the avenging sword, as Caesar ordered the slaughter of
the aged, the infirm, and all men under arms who were still in opposition to
the Romans. Of the survivors, approximately ninety thousand were taken
prisoner. The tallest and most handsome young men were reserved for the
triumphal procession down the Via Sacre in Rome. Those who were under seventeen
years of age were sold into slavery, and those over seventeen were sent to the
Egyptian salt mines or to the arenas and certain death.
Then,
by the command of Titus, the torch was put to the city and to the Temple. The
once magnificent and glorious Jerusalem was reduced to ashes, with the
exception of three towers which were to stand as sentinels to the great
fortification that Roman valor had subdued.
REFUGE FROM THE SIEGE. As will
invariably happen in times of catastrophe, there are those who turn to the Lord
in faith and escape harm. This was true during the siege of Jerusalem, and will
also be true during the last half of the Tribulation. For all who are caught up
in the midst of disaster there is this comfort: Grace is designed for hopeless
situations. In grace, God took cognizance of every problem His people would
ever face and made provision for it.
God
prepared the solution for the Jews of the Tribulation long before the need
arose. The mountains of Edom in the southern part of Palestine, Moab in the
east, and Ammon (which extends partly into the Sinai Peninsula, the Negev
country, and into some of the elevations of Trans-jordania), make an ideal
refuge for those who manage to flee. This remote terrain is wild and
inaccessible to armored and mechanized forces, and is of little strategic value
to the invader.
WARFARE IN HEAVEN. The Revelation 12
narrative of future political events now permits us to look behind the scenes
at open warfare that will break out in heaven: This is a highly significant
episode which sets certain earthly events into motion. Here is the real reason
why the Tribulational believers in Israel are counseled to hasten to safety.
And there was war in
heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. And the dragon and
his angels waged war. (Rev. 12:7)
It
may come as a shock that wars are fought in heaven. But there has been conflict
in heaven since Satan opposed God and marshaled all hostile angels to his side.
The conflict will continue until Satan is put down at the Second Advent of
Jesus Christ.
Presently
the heavenly warfare can be classified as a cold war. This combat takes the
form of confrontational verbal assaults in which Satan tries to argue against
the fairness of God with regard to the judgment of the fallen angels. The
struggle is also manifested by his constant accusations against believers
(tech. 3:12; Rev. 12:10) and is seen in the relationship of angelic events to
human history — that is, in Satan’s strategy for the world he rules.
Satan
has complete files on all living believers, be they of Jewish or Gentile
origin. His excellent and efficient demon intelligence network carefully
annotates every observable sin which you and I commit. These are taken to the
court of heaven. While our sins may be hidden on earth, they are an open
scandal in heaven, where Satan spends a good part of his time accusing us.
No
matter how often we may bungle on earth, in heaven the devil’s blasphemies are
always ably refuted by our great Defense Attorney, Jesus Christ the Righteous
(1 John 2:1-2). Each time, the case is dismissed. In fact, our very existence
today and that of the Jews who live on earth, in spite of every satanic attempt
to annihilate them, depends on Him. In the middle of the Tribulation, however,
the cold war will become a hot war and overflow to planet earth.
The combatants in the heavenly warfare are described as
“Michael and his angels” on the one side and “the dragon and his angels” on the
other. The mention of Michael is of particular interest. Not only is Michael
the highest of all the elect angels, with the possible exception of the angel
Gabriel, but he is also the guardian angel of Israel (Dan. 12:1; Jude 9).
This
high-ranking angel under God’s command has occasionally intervened in human
history. When Michael battled with the devil over the body of Moses (Jude 9) he
was under restraint by the Lord, but this open warfare is the moment he has
been waiting for since Satan’s prehistoric fall. Michael will lead the elect
angels in combat against the demonic hordes.
One
can only wonder what type of weaponry and strategy will be used by the angelic
host. Do the elect angels wield the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of
God, and do the fallen angels fight back with their fiery missiles (Eph. 6:16)?
Certainly the stakes are high; yet the angelic battlefields will not be strewn
with the mortally wounded nor with the corpses of angels. Immortal spirit
beings are not subject to physical death. Nevertheless, the hostilities will be
as real as those fought upon the earth, and in the epilogue there will be
victor and vanquished.
The
Greek polemeo, meaning “to fight,”
occurs twice in Revelation 12:7. Conditions of general warfare are indicated,
with numerous engagements fought in the vast expanses of heaven. The outcome of
the combat is described in a news bulletin which is scheduled for release in
the middle of the Tribulation. It reads:
And they [demonic
hordes] were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them
in heaven. (Rev. 12:8)
This dispatch depicts
a decisive victory, which terminates the raging, all-out battle that banishes Satan
and his fallen angels forever from heaven.
And the great dragon
was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who
deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were
thrown down with him. (Rev. 12:9)
The Greek ballo,
“to throw down,” shows the result of the angelic rebellion and further
indicates that Satan and his demons will be exiled from heaven and confined to
the earth for the second half of the Tribulation. Observe the biblical
identification of the archfiend and of all he holds dear. He is variously
called “the serpent of old . . . the devil . . . Satan, who deceives the whole
world.” These names comprise a brief resume of Satan’s career. The term, “the
serpent of old,” refers in the third chapter of Genesis to the real instigator
of the fall of man. Satan was present in the Garden at the temptation of Eve
when he indwelt the body of the serpent to deceive the woman with artful guile.
Furthermore,
Satan has been called, and continues to be called — right up to the middle of
the Tribulation — “the devil.” Diabolos
is the English word “slanderer,” signifying one of the many stratagems the
devil employs in the present cold war in heaven.
The
title “Satan” is the hellenized form of the Hebrew shatan and means “enemy.” Since the beginning of the angelic
conflict, Diabolos has been the chief
and central antagonist. As the legitimate and functional ruler of this world,
Satan dominates his subjects by enforcing a policy of deceit. This has always
been the case — and will continue to be Satan’s mode of control, as brought out
by the verb planao, “to deceive, to
lead astray.”
How
tragic when a nation is governed by deceit. Policies of deception are always
employed by untrustworthy and tyrannical rulers. Sennacherib and Hitler
manipulated the masses by deceit. Yet even their cruel ruthlessness is
insignificant when compared to the diabolical deception by which Satan
dominates his domain. The immense tragedy perpetrated on humanity in those
final three-and-a-half years of satanic rule unfolds in this biblical forecast.
Woe to the earth and
the sea; because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing
that he has only a short time. (Rev. 12:12b)
FINAL PERSECUTION OF
THE JEWS
And when the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the
earth, he persecuted the woman [Israel] who gave birth to the male child. (Rev.
12:13) Even with the inevitability of his defeat, Satan will not capitulate.
Since he is denied access to heaven and cannot vent his rage against God
Almighty, he can and will concentrate on the destruction of God’s people. This
is why the last half of the Tribulation is declared to be the worst period in
history for the Jews. As satanically inspired persecution is intensified, the
number of martyrs increases alarmingly.
However,
the devil’s apparent victory will soon turn to disaster. The indomitable faith
in Messiah of many Jews and the impact of their testimony, motivated by Bible
doctrine in their souls, will mean triumph over the evil one (Rev. 12:11).
Only
three-and-one-half years remain to complete Satan’s scheme — the annihilation
of the Jews. But he can only proceed as far as God permits. In adherence to
God’s purpose it is allotted to some believers to glorify God in death,” while
others can serve Him better in life. These Jewish survivors are delivered from
the clutches of their unseen supernatural enemy. The same principle of life and
death holds true for believers in the present dispensation (John 11:4; 21:19;
cf., Phil. 1:20-24).
And
the two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman, in order that she
might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she was nourished [fed
physically and spiritually] for a time [one year] and times [two years] and
half a time [a half-year — three-and-one-half years in all], from the presence
of the serpent. (Rev. 12:14)
There
has been considerable conjecture regarding a correct interpretation of the
eagle’s wings. Do they signify escape by aircraft? Some suggest an airlift made
possible by courtesy of the United States of America. This is not the meaning.
America is not mentioned in prophecy. However, from the use of this same term
in other passages in Scripture, we can conclude that the wings of the eagle
represent divine protection (Ex. 19:4; Isa. 40:31) from the angelic forces of
darkness and their human counterparts.
The
escape of so many Jews, who now seem entirely beyond Satan’s reach, further
infuriates the devil. He must redouble his efforts to enlist the world’s armies
in the destruction of Israel. Accordingly, his plan goes into operation.
And the serpent poured
water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, so that he might cause her
to be swept away with the flood. (Rev. 12:15)
In vibrant imagery, the
inspired Word of God describes the invading armies as “water like a river.”
This military concentration in the Middle East, particularly against Israel in
the final campaign, is portrayed as carrying away helpless Jewry in the raging
flood’s turbulent currents. The identical imagery is utilized in Isaiah 8:78,
where the king of Assyria is named as the invader of Judah. In the Revelation
passage the future King of the North is in view (Dan. 11:40).
The
sequence of events, delineated in Revelation 12:16-17, occurs in the reverse
order; the war on the Jews (verse 17) precedes the deliverance of that nation
(verse 16).
And the dragon was
enraged with the woman, and went off to make war with the rest of her
offspring, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.
(Rev. 12:17)
Orgizo, “enraged,” reveals Satan’s attitude
toward the Jews. This Greek word depicts irrational, emotional anger, which is
a facet of anti-Semitism wherever it is found. The fury of Satan is cumulative
antagonism against Israel from the time of Abraham to the end of the
Tribulation. This is the background to the war that ends all wars — the
Armageddon campaign. Though not mentioned in this passage, the campaign occurs
chronologically between the events of Revelation 12:16 and 17.
JERUSALEM AS
SATAN’S TRAP
The
devil frequently motivates and organizes the movements of militant forces in
history. However, the Lord Jesus Christ maintains control over the affairs of
mankind. As the omnipotent Creator and sovereign God of the universe, He alone
has the final word and ability to overrule or to counter every satanic move.
Even though the devil will be responsible for gathering millions of hostile
armed men into the Middle East for the last great war, the Lord permits them to
converge on their objective (Joel 3:2; c£, Rev. 16:14). He will use Jerusalem
as a trap for Satan.
SATAN LURED TO JERUSALEM. Jerusalem
has often been and will continue to be a magnet for crisis among the great
cities of the world. As the future capital of Israel in the Tribulation, the
city will become the center for evangelism, which is reason enough to attract
Satan’s undivided attention. Following the highly effective ministry of the one
hundred forty-four thousand Jewish evangelists in the first half of the
Tribulation, Moses and Elijah will return from the dead to herald the Second
Advent of Jesus Christ (Rev. 11:3-12; cf., Mal. 4:4-5).
During the period of their return, martyrdom, and subsequent
supernatural resuscitation, Moses and Elijah will be given extensive coverage
by the news media of their day. The repercussions will be phenomenal (Rev.
11:11-13). For centuries people have been puzzled by and skeptical of the
prediction in Scripture that the world’s population will be spectators of these
unusual happenings in Jerusalem. With the technological advances of television,
universal viewing of world events has become a reality that has vindicated
God’s Word.
There will be further evangelism of the world by
supernatural means: An angel will proclaim the everlasting Gospel to every
nation on earth (Rev. 14:6-7). Many will respond by believing in Jesus Christ.
Concentrated in Jerusalem will be the largest number of born-again Jews in one
locale since the time of the Exodus.
While the nations of
the world seek to control Jerusalem for its wealth and strategic importance,
Satan is also drawn irresistibly to this immense gathering of believing and
unbelieving Jews. How easy for Satan to obliterate them. All he must do is
maneuver the troops of the major powers into place. Between them the
annihilation of the Jews would be only a matter of time. But, Jerusalem
represents a trap for Satan, and the Jews are the bait. The master deceiver is
being deceived.
PRELUDE TO ARMAGEDDON. By the
permissive will of God three of the Satan-inspired, demon-energized combatants
will concentrate their forces on Tribulational Israel (Rev. 16:13-14). The
opening attack will come from the King of the South, quite possibly Egypt and
other Arab nations, and from the King of the North who currently corresponds to
the Soviet Union.
The
assault of these two allies will be directed initially against the dictator of
Palestine (Dan. 11:36-40a). Very quickly, however, these kings perceive the real
threat to be one another. Yet the King of the South is no match for the King of
the North, whose rapid mechanized advance supported by superior naval forces
will engulf the entire Middle East (Dan. 11:40b).
Jerusalem
will be temporarily bypassed as the King of the North pushes his attack into
Egypt, but the rest of Israel will ultimately be overrun. Jewish freedom
fighters will valiantly defend the beleaguered city. All the Jews — with the
exception of those who have hidden in the hill country — will experience a
reign of terror (Dan. 11:41-45; Zech. 14:2).
The
attacks of the Kings of the North and South will provoke a counterattack from
the King of the West (the Revived Roman Empire). With control of Africa at
stake, he cannot allow the northern claim to the Middle East to go unchallenged
(Dan. 11:42-43). He attacks by sea, and soon fierce naval battles rage in the
Mediterranean. The fleet of the King of the North suffers irreparable losses
that will sever the sea supply lines to his ground forces in northeast Africa
(Dan. 11:44).
To
exacerbate the combat, other contenders arrive from the east to join the powers
already locked in a death struggle. The Bible refers to them as the “Kings from
the East,” literally kings of “the rising of the sun” (Rev. 16:12). These are
Asian peoples, and their entrance into this theater of war is permitted by the
Lord, not by the devil. He who controls history will dispatch one of His
administrative angels to dry up the River Euphrates (Rev. 16:12). No sooner is
this accomplished than seemingly endless human waves of Asiatics, greedy for
spoil, will pour across the dry river bed.
The King of the North is utterly frustrated by the alarming
news of this influx of Asiatic powers into the Middle East threatening his land
supply lines and severing his sea lane logistics. In uncontrollable wrath he
turns against the only people who cannot give him any real opposition — the
hapless, defenseless Jews. Then follows the most intensive onslaught of
anti-Semitism ever to occur in history. This is not exaggerated prediction but
biblical prophecy. The narrative is recorded in these words:
But
rumors from the East and from the North will disturb him [the King of the
North], and he will go forth with great wrath to destroy and annihilate many
[Jews]. And he will pitch the tents of his royal pavilion between the seas and
the beautiful Holy Mountain [Zion]; yet he will come to his end, and no one
will help him. (Dan. 11:44-45)
The
Soviet Union, which today would represent the King of the North, is well-known
for its pogroms and abominable treatment of Jews. With the recent decline of
economic and political fortunes, Soviet anti-Semitic attitudes have
intensified.76 If such blatant oppression occurs today, imagine what
could happen once Soviet hopes of world domination evaporate. When the war
turns against him, the King of the North will launch an offensive to complete
what the King of the West and the dictator of Palestine began with the
“abomination of desolation” — the annihilation of the Jews. Yet he will be no
more successful than any of the others who have raised a hand against them.
WHY ARMAGEDDON? The question arises:
Why does the Lord permit such dreadful carnage to afflict the people whom He
has chosen and the Land which He has promised them? The answer entails several
factors.
1.
There is the unseen warfare of the ages. The angelic conflict must run its
course; this fight to the finish is Satan’s continuing challenge to eliminate
the Jews.
2.
Intimately related to that conflict, human evil is expressed in personal and
national anti-Semitism. God allows negative human volition to function only to
a certain point. Ultimately the assault is cut short because of God’s promise
of protection for the Jews delineated in Genesis 12:3.
3.
There is the Jew and his attitude toward God. God offers the Jews, as well as
all peoples, a relationship with Him through believing in Jesus Christ, the
Messiah (Isa. 52:1353:12; 1 Pet. 2:24-25; cf., John 3:16-18). As long as the
Jews obey God’s Word, they are the recipients of tremendous blessings. However,
when they bask in disobedience and unbelief, they reap what they sow — divine
discipline. When the Jews reject a relationship with Yahweh and fail to follow His divine mandates, they incur His wrath
(Deut. 28; Prov. 3:12; Ezek. 2). Divine discipline is always commensurate with
the offense: The punishment fits the crime (Ps. 7:15-16).
Israel’s national discipline began in the first century and
will continue until after the Second Advent, when Jesus Christ personally
regathers His own people and restores them as believers to the Land. This
discipline is the direct result of Israel’s rejection of Jesus Christ as their
Messiah (Matt. 23:37-39) and their failure to be witnesses for God.
Under
divine discipline God explicitly reserves the right to handle all matters
concerning the Jews. He needs no help from anyone. Although God condemns
anti-Semitism, He allows anti-Semitism to exist in order to accomplish His own
purposes. By permitting the anti-Semites into the Land during the Armageddon
campaign, God seals their final destruction. When God baits the trap; it snaps
shut — not on the bait, but on all who attempt to devour the Jews.
JERUSALEM AS
SATAN’S DOOM
In yet another passage, that same trap — Jerusalem — is
called a “cup that causes reeling” and a “heavy stone.”
Behold, I [God] am
going to make Jerusalem a cup that causes reeling to all the peoples around
[the four major powers in the Tribulation]; and when the siege is against
Jerusalem, it will also be against Judah [the future nation of Israel]. And it
will come about in that day [the end of the Tribulation] that I will make
Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who lift it will be severely
injured. And all the nations of the earth will be gathered against it. (Zech.
12:23)
The
first illustration portrays Jerusalem as a goblet which God has filled to the
brim with believing Jews — a potent drink that will choke all who try to drain
its contents by harming the Jews. They shall reel and stagger from drunkenness,
which is analogous to the results of divine judgment. “All the peoples” refers
to the anti-Semitic nations who contribute armies for the last great siege of
Jerusalem.
The
second analogy describes Jerusalem as a stone that should not be lifted because
of its extreme weight. The “weight” is the promise of God concerning Israel’s
future. Severe injury results when any nation attempts to interfere with the
fulfillment of that promise. Yet anti-Semitic nations will still gather against
Israel.
Today,
no one has permanently resolved the complexities of the Middle East or the
continuing conflict between Arabs and Jews. Neither can anyone explain the
enigma of the indestructibility of the Jew apart from the biblical
interpretation.
As
history unfolds, the situation will become ever more complicated. The biblical
prognosis that enmity constantly would exist between half-brothers Ishmael and
Isaac and their progeny (Gen. 16:11-12) has been verified over the centuries.
The Arabs rarely get along with each other (Abraham sired additional Arab
tribes, Gen. 25:2, 6), to say nothing of their hatred for the Jews.
In
that future day as civilization advances to the close of the Tribulation, the
Bible declares that all peace attempts will ultimately fail. How, then, can
those uninitiated to this present Arab-Israeli conflict hope to impose a
lasting settlement on the warring factions? Only the personal return of Jesus
Christ will put a permanent end to the strife.
Certainly
no one is more vitally concerned than Satan to usher in his own peace accord.
What an embarrassment to be ruler of this world and to be unable to solve a
perpetual dilemma in one’s own domain! Satan will attempt a new “final
solution” to the Jewish problem in the Jerusalem of the Tribulation. His
solution, like that of Hitler, demands the extermination of the Jews, as Satan
strives to attain his long-desired victory over Jesus Christ.
Against
overwhelming odds, Jewish freedom fighters of the Tribulation will courageously
defend the besieged city. Sustained by God’s truth in their souls, they will
refuse to surrender. They will be willing to die, if necessary, but their
martyrdom will exact a heavy price on the enemy (Zech. 12:6).
On
the night before the final assault on Jerusalem, millions of the enemy will be
poised to strike the fatal blow: Then the trap snaps shut: Supernatural,
impregnable darkness will descend on the invaders. The enemy will be
immobilized by panic. But that same universal darkness, which terrorizes the
foe, will afford protection to the believing remnant.
The
darkness will linger for a day; then with startling suddenness the Lord will
appear in dazzling light. This is called the day of reckoning (Joel 3:15-16;
cf., Joel 2:11). The King of Kings will go forth to fight for His people as He
once fought for them in the day of battle at the time of the Exodus (Zech.
14:3; cf., Ex. 14:13-14). The promised Deliverer will come; God keeps His Word.
JUDGMENT OF THE LAST
ANTI-SEMITES
Jesus
Christ will not permit the anti-Semitism raging at His second coming to
contaminate His millennial kingdom. With devastating judgment He destroys the
last satanic attack on the Jews. When the glory of Messiah breaks through the
darkness, all eyes will be riveted on the blazing light in the clouds (Rev.
1:7). Too late, then, to hide from the recompense (Rev. 6:15-17)! Too late to
play the sycophant and assert, “But some of my best friends were Jews!” God has
all the facts; He will judge righteously.
Two
major personalities that survive the Second Advent will be the dictator of the
Revived Roman Empire and the dictator of Palestine. Frantically, they rally
their decimated armies for one last defense against the Lord (Rev. 19:19). The
armies will meet the very fate they hoped to inflict upon the Jews — total
annihilation. Doom awaits the two tyrants.
And the beast
[dictator of the Revived Roman Empire] was seized, and with him the false prophet
[dictator of Palestine] . . . these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire
which burns with brimstone. (Rev. 19:20)
There they will be
joined at a future time by their ally, his majesty the devil (Rev. 20:10).
Both
Old and New Testaments portray the judgment of the last anti-Semites as the
final vintage of grapes long overripe. Jesus Christ is the Royal Vintager whose
golden sickle reaps the harvest of anti-Semites into a winepress in the suburbs
of Jerusalem (Isa. 63:16; Rev. 14:1416, 20; 19:15). Isaiah depicts his Messiah
clothed in blood-spattered white robes, and John tells how plentiful the deadly
harvest will be. As Jesus Christ executes judgment on the enemies of the Jews,
their blood is said to flow as high as the horses’ bridles for a distance of
two hundred miles (Rev. 14:20). It will take seven months to bury the dead
(Ezek. 39:14).
In
addition to the slaughter of Israel’s enemies on the battlefield (Ezek. 38-39),
anti-Semitism will be judged throughout the world. The text of Zechariah
14:12-15 graphically pictures how God will deal with the last anti-Semites.
Now this will be the
plague with which the Lord will strike all the peoples who have gone to war
against Jerusalem; their flesh will rot while they stand on their feet, and
their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongue will rot in their mouth.
(Zech. 14:12)
This
worldwide plague against anti-Semitism does not strike down its victims
indiscriminately. The destruction is highly selective and afflicts only those
who are already infected by the deadly virus of anti-Semitism in the
Tribulation. Medical history has never recorded such a plague. Within moments
the diseased victims begin to decompose while they are still living.
Imagine
the horror of those who will watch their loved ones and their friends literally
rot away. Flesh, which only seconds before was glowing with life and vitality,
suddenly decays. Eyes shrivel away in their sockets; and tongues, which uttered
curses and blasphemies against the Jews, disintegrate. Only skeletons remain,
and they too collapse and crumble away into dust.
And it will come about
in that day that a great panic from the Lord will fall on them; and they will
seize one another’s hand, and the hand of one will be lifted against the hand
of another. (Zech. 14:13)
Panic
induced by God turns the tide in favor of His chosen people. As recorded in the
Old Testament, God used this type of psychological warfare on Israel’s enemies
in the day of Moses when the Jews approached the borders of the Promised Land
(Deut. 2:25). Panic was employed when Gideon battled the Midianites (Judges
7:19-22), when Jonathan and his adjutant penetrated the camp of the Philistines
(1 Sam. 14:1, 6-7), and when the Ammonite invaders were routed (2 Chron.
20:23). Panic will once again immobilize the world’s military might immediately
before the Second Advent (Zech. 12:4). The horrors of this final panic are
unprecedented, the ultimate judgment for anti-Semitism at the end of the
Tribulation.
God’s
punishment always fits the crime. Appropriately the same vicious, irrational
hysteria which characterizes anti-Jewish sentiments and movements shall finally
manifest itself in mindless, psychotic panic.
For they sow the wind,
and they reap the whirlwind. (Hosea 8:7a)
Blinded by hatred,
anti-Semites become mentally deranged (Zech. 12:4) and suddenly collapse.
Anti-Semites
will accuse their fellow anti-Semites of being Jews. Consequently, the hand
which in reality was raised against the Jews now bludgeons a friend. Mass
murders will result from this madness. Fittingly, those whose obsession is to
exterminate Jewry from the face of the earth will themselves be removed in
judgment
So
completely will God scour the world of anti-Semitism that no living creature associated with the armies surrounding
Jerusalem will survive. Adam’s Fall and subsequent curse affected all lower
creation (Rom. 8:1922). Man’s sinfulness brought destruction upon animal life
during the Flood (Gen. 7:23). Likewise, anti-Semitism in the Tribulation will
adversely affect the animal kingdom.
So also like this
plague, will be the plague of the horse, the mule, the camel, the donkey, and
of all the cattle that will be in those camps [of the anti-Semites]. (Zech.
14:15)
While
plague devastates the ranks of their adversaries, Jewish soldiers will
contribute to the defeat. Now will come their turn to “take the spoil of those
who despoiled them” (Ezek. 39:10); now they receive repayment by going through
the camps of the hostile armies to collect the wealth of the heathen (Zech.
14:14).
From
that moment, when Christ establishes His millennial reign, the fortunes of the
Jews will change (Rom. 11:26). As believers who are restored to the Land, they
will be the most admired, the most sought-after and respected people in the
world (Zech. 8:23). Never again will anti-Semitism erupt; never again will the
Land be cursed (Zech. 14:11). Messiah Himself will insure the lasting peace.
72 See footnote 19,
above.
73 Strategic Victory of the Cross. Phase One:
the death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and session of Jesus Christ as the
victor in the angelic conflict. Phase Two: the Second Advent, the overthrow of
Satan, and crowning of the King. The believer is identified with the strategic
victory of Phase One through his union with Christ at the point of salvation;
the Church is identified with the second stage of the strategic victory by her
return with Christ in resurrection bodies. The tactical victory in the angelic
conflict is the normal function of the royal priesthood in the Christian life.
74. Josephus, “The
Wars of the Jews,” Book V, vi-viii.
75. Dying Grace (1977), 46, 11-13.
76. “Survey in Moscow
Sees a High Level of Anti-Jewish Feeling,” New York limes, 30 March 1990, A6..
When Israel was saturated with apostasy, the Jews were warned through the
increasing intensity of four cycles of discipline (Lev. 26). Verses 1417
describe the first cycle; verses 19-20, the second cycle; verses 21-22, the
third cycle; and verses 23-26, the fourth cycle. The fifth cycle (verses 27-39)
ends in military defeat and the destruction of the nation (Jer. 7:24-34). See Daniel: Chapters One, Two, & Three, (1988),
45.
6
The
Unique Jew
THREE KINDS OF JEWS
IN VIEW OF THE TERRIBLE
PERSECUTION which the Jews have suffered in the past and the horror which
awaits them in the future, is it incongruous to say that there is an advantage
to being a Jew? The third chapter of Romans opens with that very question: in
verse 1, “Then, what advantage has the Jew?” and answers the query in verse 2,
“Great in every respect!” Before we examine those advantages, however, we must
clarify certain biblical terminology.
The
Bible uses three designations for God’s chosen people. These are technical
references which must be properly understood. The terms are: “Hebrew,”
“Israel,” and “Jew.” The appellation “Hebrew” was first used of Abraham, whom
God had called to he the founder of the Jewish race. After Abraham left Ur of
the Chaldees and until he became a citizen of Salem (Gen. 14:17-20), he was a
man without a country. He was known as “Abram, the Hebrew” (Gen. 14:13). This
means “Abram, the one who crossed the river.” That meaning is confirmed by
Joshua 24:2-3, which states that the
Jewish Patriarchs once “lived beyond the River,” the River Euphrates.
The
title “Israel,” or “prince of God,” Jacob’s God-given name, was passed down to
his progeny. This group of Jews was called the “Children of Israel.” Later
records designate them as the “Israelites” or “Israel.” Biblically, the
designation applies to all the tribes, which historically first included the
twelve tribes, then, later, the half-tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh — Joseph’s
descendants. After the defection of the ten northern tribes during the reign of
Rehoboam, Israel is referred to as the Northern Kingdom.
The
word “Jew” came into use after the Babylonian captivity and indicated members
of the tribe of Judah. But today who is a Jew, and who is not? After a stormy
debate, the Knesset, Israel’s
parliament, ruled in 1970 that anyone born of a Jewish mother is considered a
Jew. Why the mother and not the father? The answer is that although the father
cannot always be traced, the mother is generally known.
A
Jew can be defined in terms of race, religion, or regeneration. The Word states
unequivocally:
For they are not all
Israel, who are descended from Israel: neither are they all children [of God;
cf., verse 9] because they are Abraham’s [physical] descendants, but: “Through
Isaac your descendants will be named.” (Rom. 9:6b7)
This passage
distinguishes between racial Israel, those who are Jews by birth; religious
Israel, those who are Jews by religious tradition; and regenerate Israel, those
Jews who have believed in Christ and are members of the Royal Family of God.
These same three distinctions apply to the term “Jew” and “Hebrew.”
RACIAL ISRAEL
Israel
is unique among the races in that its origin is supernatural. When Abraham was
no longer capable of procreation and Sarah was beyond the age of childbearing
(Gen. 17:17; 18:11-14; cf., Rom. 4:16-22), God intervened to make the
impossible possible (Gen. 18:14). Consequently, through divine rejuvenation of
Abraham’s and Sarah’s ability to propagate, the Jewish race came into
existence. Now if God brought about a miracle to usher in the Jewish people,
why should anyone, particularly the Jews, reject the miraculous conception and
birth of the Savior, who was in His humanity a racial Jew?
The
Bible declares any descendant of Abraham who possesses the genes of Isaac,
Jacob, or any of the patriarchs to be a racial Jew (Gen. 48:16). He need not be
a full-blooded Jew in order to be Jewish. Racial purity is a myth.
Consider
the fact that the first Jew was a gentile Chaldean and the early Israelites
usually chose their wives within the family (Gen. 24:4; 28:2). Although the
Mosaic Law later imposed marriage restrictions upon the Israelites (Deut. 7:34;
23:3, 7-8), interracial marriages were not unusual. For example, Joseph’s wife
was an Egyptian, the daughter of a gentile high priest in Pharaoh’s court (Gen.
41:45). Their two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, were half Jew and half Gentile.
But they were included among the Israelites and not among the Egyptians (Gen.
48:15-16), causing the original twelve tribes to expand into thirteen tribes
(Gen. 48:20).
What
qualified Ephraim and Manasseh for acceptance into the Jewish tribal system?
Certainly, they had no Jewish mother. Was it deference for Joseph’s exalted
position? Was it because Joseph had received the double portion of the family
inheritance (Gen. 48:22)? No! The basis of their recognition as Jews was
twofold: personal relationship to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob — a
spiritual factor, which will be discussed under the category of the regenerate
Jew — and secondly, they possessed the genes of Israel; Jewish blood coursed
through their veins.
One
of the most revered Jews of all time is Moses. A true descendant of the tribe
of Levi (Ex. 2:1), Moses married outside the Jewish tribal system. His first
wife was a Midianite (Ex. 2:15-21); his second, an Ethiopian (Num. 12:1). Both
were Gentiles.
Even
in the Davidic line we find intermarriages between Jews and Gentiles. Absalom’s
mother was an Aramean princess (2 Sam. 3:3); and Solomon’s queen, the daughter
of Egypt’s pharaoh. In fact, most of Solomon’s concubines and harem beauties
were strangers to the commonwealth
of Israel.
In
the genealogy of our Lord appear the names of two outstanding gentile women:
Rahab, a Canaanite, and Ruth, a Moabite (Matt. 1:5). While records have been
lost in the process of Israel’s captivity in Babylon and during the dispersion
of A.D. 70, the Jews have done a splendid job of tracing their lineage over the
centuries. This makes relatively easy a verification of ancestral background to
determine whether or not a person is a racial Jew.
RELIGIOUS
ISRAEL
Contrary
to popular opinion, religion is not synonymous with faith in Christ,
relationship with the Lord, or devotion to God. As an ingenious counterfeit of
the truth, religion is one of the devil’s trump cards. Religion emphasizes what
man does to earn the approbation of God, as opposed to what God in grace does
for man.
When
God’s grace is removed, the Gospel is obscured (2 Cor. 4:4). Victims of religion
are either lulled into complacency concerning their eternal future or their
hope for an eternal future is used to enslave them in the legalistic rituals
and traditions of man (Mark 7:8; Col. 2:8). The Gospel frees man to serve the
living God (John 8:32).
The
Bible condemns religion (Jer. 8:8-12; Matt. 23), and rightly so. In the name of
religion and alleged Christianity horrible crimes have been committed. When
Jews erroneously identify the cross with anti-Jewish persecution, they develop
hostility to the declaration of the Gospel, and remain confused about the
person and work of Jesus Christ. They reject an intimate, personal relationship
with God and choose religion instead.
The
religion of the Jews is called Judaism. Modern Judaism evolved from the tenets
of the Pharisees and the Sadducees of Jesus’ day. Basically, Judaism embraces
three divergent views: orthodoxy, conservatism, and reform, with variations
among these persuasions.
In
practice, the orthodox Jew adheres strictly to the Torah and the rabbinical interpretation. The
conservative Jew observes the traditional rituals of Judaism but allows for a
more liberal interpretation of the religious fundamentals and of the Jewish way
of life. Conservative Judaism is, in fact, a compromise between Orthodox and
Reform Judaism.
Reform
Judaism is both modernized and secularized. As the least stringently demanding,
Reform Judaism is the most remote from the traditional definition of Jewry.
Between these three views of Judaism is one common bond loyalty to and interest
in the State of Israel.
Although
Judaism generally represents the religious Jew, a Jew may or may not be
religious. The Knesset definition of
a Jew states that Jewishness may be a matter of birth or a matter of belief. One
need not be an ethnic Jew in order to be a religious Jew; one can be a
proselyte (Matt. 23:15; Acts 2:10), or one can be both — racial and religious.
REGENERATE
ISRAEL
The
biblical concept of the true Jew combines racial and spiritual factors. Regarding
the racial Jew, the Scriptures declare:
For he is not a Jew
who is one outwardly; neither is circumcision that which is outward in the
flesh. (Rom. 2:28)
This statement
indicates that overt characteristics are not necessarily proof of Jewishness.
The spiritual rebirth mandated, for example, to the Pharisee Nicodemus in John
3:1-18 is a necessity for inclusion.”
The
ritual of circumcision, which God mandated to Abraham and his male progeny as a
sign of the Abrahamic Covenant, had profound spiritual significance. The
procedure represented the beginning of the new race founded in the faith
expressed by Abraham (Gen. 15:40. By circumcision the Jew relates to his unique
racial and spiritual heritage. But circumcision was also commanded of all male
members of Abraham’s household (Gen. 17:9-14) as a principle of blessing by
association. Circumcision is not confined to the Jewish people, but is widely
practiced as a sanitary measure, and in some areas of the world used as a rite
of initiation. But ritual without reality is meaningless. Therefore, this
passage is specific in defining the true Jew as one who is a Jew inwardly —
that is, one who is circumcised “of the heart” (Rom. 2:29), after the pattern
of Abraham’s salvation (Rom. 4:35).
“Regenerate
Israelite” is the technical designation of a Jew who has believed in the Lord
Jesus Christ as He was revealed in the Old Testament. The Jew who accepts
Christ as his Savior in the Church Age is unique. In the body of Christ race is
no longer an issue. The Jew is entered into union with Christ and becomes a
member of the Royal Family of God (Gal. 3:28-29; Col. 3:11; 1 Pet. 2:9).’8 The
same spiritual transformation applies to the Gentile; he ceases to be a Gentile
and, like the Jew, merges into the Church. Both become one in Christ.
The
Apostle Paul was a true Jew in every respect. He referred to himself as a
“Hebrew of the Hebrews.” A racial Jew, he was descended from the tribe of
Benjamin. According to the Mosaic Law, he had been circumcised on the eighth
day after his birth. Furthermore, before he was saved, Paul belonged to a
religious sect known as the Pharisees and considered himself above reproach in
the observance of the Law (Phil. 3:5-6).
In
his misguided zeal, he relentlessly persecuted the early Church (Phil. 3:6).
Then his own conversion (rebirth or regeneration) occurred (Acts 9:16).
Although God appointed Paul an Apostle to the Gentiles, Paul deeply desired the
salvation of his Jewish compatriots. He expressed his concern in the ninth
chapter of his Epistle to the Romans.
That
I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart. For I could wish that I
myself were accursed [under a curse] separated from Christ for the sake of my
brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh [racial Jews], who are Israelites,
to whom belongs the adoption as sons [God’s representatives in the Old
Testament], and the glory [personal
presence of God], and the covenants, and the giving of the Law [Mosaic Law],
and the temple service and the promises, whose are the fathers [Patriarchs],
and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God
blessed forever. Amen. But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For
they are not all Israel [born-again Israel, the true Jew] who are descended
from Israel [racial Israel]. (Rom. 9:2-6)
Once
saved, Paul was deeply solicitous for the salvation of his countrymen. Never
before had he realized that to be a Jew by virtue of race or religion did not
automatically guarantee a favored status in time and eternity. So Paul set out
to explain that the Jewish race must be based upon regeneration, which was the
original requirement for Abraham, the first Jew, and that the regenerate Jew is
the only true Jew in God’s sight.
Skillfully,
he presented his case. Before Abraham became a Jew, he was already born again
(Gen. 15:6; cf., Rom. 4:3). Because Abraham had believed in the promised
Messiah, God made him the founder of the Jewish race. Hence, the racial aspect
is irrelevant without the spiritual aspect — personal faith in Jesus Christ.
The Scripture says, “Whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have
eternal life” (John 3:16b). “Whoever” refers to the Gentiles as well as to the
Jews: God’s offer of salvation extends to every member of the human race.
To
prove his point that God differentiates between racial and regenerate Israel,
Paul traced the two lineages which sprang from one man — Abraham. Of Abraham’s
first two sons, one was a Gentile, the other a Jew. Both had the genes of Abraham,
yet there was a remarkable contrast between them.
What
accounted for the difference? Was it that one was born of Abraham’s legal wife
and the other of his mistress? No! What differentiated between Abraham’s two
sons was that one of them was “born again” (John 3:3) while the other was not.
Ishmael, the unbelieving Gentile, was blessed for Abraham’s sake and became the
progenitor of one third of the Arab people. He is representative of Abraham’s
“children of the flesh” (Rom. 9:8; cf., Rom. 9:7; Gen. 16:1-4). Isaac, the regenerate Jew, perpetuated
the race in fulfillment of God’s promise (Rom. 9:8; cf., Rom. 9:7, 9; Gen.
17:18-19).
The
same principle is even more dramatically exhibited in the next generation. One
Jewish father and one Jewish mother, Isaac and Rebecca, produced the first
recorded set of twins (Rom. 9:10). Puzzled by her condition, Rebecca consulted
the Lord.
And the Lord said to
her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples [Jews and Gentiles] shall
be separated from your body; and one people shall be stronger than the other;
and the older [Esau] shall serve the younger [Jacob].” (Gen. 25:23)
Before
the twins were even born or had performed any good or evil, God foretold the
divergent paths they would choose. Omniscience foresaw that Jacob would express
faith and Esau would reject salvation. Therefore God declared, “Jacob I loved,
but Esau I hated” (Rom. 9:13). Divine approval is never based on human works
(Rom. 9:11; Eph. 2:89; Titus 3:5) but on man’s response to the grace of God which
brings salvation to all mankind (Titus 2:11).
Note
the brilliance of Paul’s exposition. He chose for his illustration the contrast
between the Jews and the Gentiles. The Jews understand and nod in agreement;
they identify with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They are proud of their ancestry
and prone to disdain the Gentiles.
Then
the truth dawns on them — a like contrast exists among themselves: “They are not all Israel who are descended
from Israel” (Rom. 9:6). Old Testament documentation supports Paul’s claim:
“Though the number of the sons of Israel [racial Israel] be as the sand of the
sea, it is the remnant [only] that will be saved [regenerate Israel]” (Rom.
9:27; cf., Isa. 10:22-23).
The
great Apostle laments the tragedy of his people whose zeal for religion has
blinded them to the truth (Rom. 11:8, 25). They readily accept the Law, which
demonstrates the sinfulness of mankind and his need of a Savior (Rom. 3:20),
but they reject the only One who fulfilled the Law perfectly (Matt. 5:17; cf.
Rom. 8:34) and thereby met God’s standards for them. They bypass God’s
requirement of perfect righteousness, which can only be attained by faith in
Jesus Christ, and attempt to establish their own relative righteousness, a
righteousness that is totally unacceptable to God (Rom. 9:31; 10:3; cf., Isa.
64:6).
Grace
and legalism are mutually exclusive (Rom. 11:6). God’s grace gift of Jesus
Christ and the decision to believe in Him divide regenerate Israel from racial
and religious Israel. With this in mind, Paul exclaims, “Brethren, my heart’s
desire and my prayer to God for them [Israel] is for their salvation” (Rom.
10:1).
But
Israel’s rejection of the Savior is neither total (Rom. 11:1-10), nor is it
final (Rom. 11:11-32). Only to the regenerate Jew is Jewishness an advantage.
Then what advantage
has the Jew? Or what is the benefit of circumcision? Great in every respect.
First of all, that they were entrusted with the oracles of God [the Old
Testament Scriptures]. (Rom. 3:12)
The Greek word for
“advantage” is perissos, which means
“over and above.” Perissos indicates
the extraordinary, the remarkable. The exact meaning this passage conveys is
one of preeminence. The answer to Paul’s rhetorical question deals with
Israel’s past and defines the advantages of the Jews in the Age of Israel as
one of privilege and responsibility.
THE ADVANTAGE OF BEING A JEW
In
the short phrase, “Great in every respect” (Rom. 3:2), all of Israel’s
advantages are brought into focus. These advantages are linked to God’s Word.
To Israel this meant:
1. Salvation
advantages: the born-again Jews’ temporal and eternal
security, which is expressed in the four unconditional covenants;
2.
Dispensational advantages: custodianship
of God’s Word in written and verbal form (Rom. 3:2); blessings through
obedience to Bible doctrine; 3. Ritual
advantages: a clear declaration of the person and work of Messiah in shadow
form; circumcision of heart, which was symbolized by the rite of circumcision
on all Jewish males;
4. Racial and national advantages: all
blessings accrued through grace and through the inculcation of Bible doctrine;
the nation benefited from the presence of regenerate Jews in their midst;
5.
Establishment advantages: the giving
of the Mosaic Law as a charter of human freedom; adherence to the Law ensured
spiritual and financial prosperity, and military success for Israel.
ISRAEL’S PAST
From
the call of Abraham to the time of the Exodus and from their wanderings in the
desert through their turbulent history as a nation, Israel was ever the
recipient of God’s bountiful grace. None of us — Jew or Gentile — earn or
deserve preferential treatment from God; yet it pleased God to make the Jews
His own special people.
All
divine revelation which has been reduced to writing came to and through Israel.
Every writer of the Old Testament Scriptures was a Jew. Furthermore, God made
the Jews the beneficiaries of four unconditional covenants. This everlasting
treaty, into which God entered with Abraham and with his born-again progeny
(Gen. 17:7), consists of four separate paragraphs and guarantees the Jews a
future, a purpose, and a title deed to a land of their own. Because the
covenants are unconditional in nature, their fulfillment depends solely upon
the character of God. The four paragraphs of the unconditional covenants are
described below:
Paragraph One: The Abrahamic Covenant (Gen.
12:13) establishes the Jewish race and the future nation Israel and
anathematizes anti-Semitism (Gen. 13:14-17; 15:17, 18; 17:18).
Paragraph Two: The Palestinian Covenant (Gen.
13:14-15) promises the Jews a specified territory in the Middle East and
secures the final restoration of Israel in this land after the Second Advent of
Jesus Christ (Isa. 11:11-12).
3.
Ritual advantages: a clear
declaration of the person and work of Messiah in shadow form; circumcision of
heart, which was symbolized by the rite of circumcision on all Jewish males;
4. Racial and national advantages: all
blessings accrued through grace and through the inculcation of Bible doctrine;
the nation benefited from the presence of regenerate Jews in their midst;
5.
Establishment advantages: the giving
of the Mosaic Law as a charter of human freedom; adherence to the Law ensured
spiritual and financial prosperity, and military success for Israel.
ISRAEL’S SUPERIORITY
The preeminence of Israel is clearly seen in
God’s assurance to Abraham that the Jews would live throughout history despite
every satanic attempt to destroy them, and that every born again Jew — from Abraham
to the Second Advent — would have a phenomenal place in the eternal plan of
God.
Such
promises were never made to any other race or nation — only to Israel. This
means that God has obligated Himself to keep His Word to the Jews. At the time
when Abraham left Ur of the Chaldees and entered into the grace covenant with
God, the Anglo-Saxon race was still in a barbarous or, at best, a
semi-barbarous state. Established on God’s selection of Israel as His chosen
people, the Jews could have appointed themselves a “super race.” However, by
revealing His divine purposes to Israel and using divine discipline when they
deviated from His purposes, God saw to it that they did not exalt themselves.
Historically,
the superiority of the Jews is demonstrated by the fact that God established
them, first as a race, then as a nation. God gave them not only His laws of
salvation and spiritual function, His laws of divine establishment and human
freedom, but He also ruled personally over the nation as a theocracy for the first
four hundred years.
The
Jewish race was perpetuated on the foundation of regeneration, and the nation
was composed exclusively of believers when the Exodus generation first emerged
from slavery in Egypt.79 The distinction (Eph. 2:17-19) between
Israel and her gentile neighbors — and all the nations of the world down
through the centuries — is the fact that Israel began as a regenerate
theocracy. This divine heritage has propelled the Jews through a long and
illustrious history. Though not perfect by any means, the Jews have always had
a system of laws and the superior advantage of being “the pupil of God’s eye” —
His protected and chosen people. No gentile nation can make such a claim.
The
cultural superiority of the Jews is also evident. Whereas many of our gentile
ancestors still lived in caves and hovels under the most primitive conditions,
the ancestors of the Jews had an advanced standard of living. Given to Israel
by God, the Mosaic Law insured these standards.
The
Jews had hygienic laws commensurate with today’s standards. They possessed an
equitable system of justice and a superior moral code. They practiced soil
conservation and rotation of crops. Their excellent dietary laws contributed to
the nation’s health. They produced inspired artisans, poets, and musicians;
extraordinary statesmen and warriors; judges and kings. No matter how cruelly
they were persecuted through the centuries, the Jews never suffered
disintegration of their cultural or spiritual standards.
As
a special people with a unique mission and a lofty purpose in life, the Jews
were not only singularly blessed, they were also liable to particularly severe
punishment. Their reversionistic failures were punished with the appropriate
divine discipline — discipline designed by a loving, gracious heavenly Father
to train and correct His children (Prov. 3:12; Heb. 12:6).
ISRAEL’S PRESENT
Israel is currently
under divine discipline for:
1. Unbelief or
rejection of salvation on the part of racial and religious Jewry;
2.
Failure to accomplish the mission which God had entrusted to them as the elect
nation.
This discipline began
in A. D. 70 when God scattered the Jews to the ends of the earth. Although a
handful of Jews have returned to the Land, the majority will remain dispersed
until Jesus Christ regathers them at His second coming.
Since
1948 Jewish achievements in Palestine must be recognized as splendid. The
current nation of Israel has secured and expanded its borders, winning reprieve
and respect through its military prowess. They have created a homeland for
displaced and desperate Jewish refugees. The new inhabitants have done a
magnificent job in reclaiming this beautiful land from an arid desert.
The
Jews have demonstrated to the world that they have never lost their vigor. Most
other peoples would have been defeated by the constant political and military
pressure. Ferociously repulsing any threat to their sovereignty, the Jews are
more realistic about aggression from antagonistic nations than any other free
nation. They are prepared to fight to maintain their autonomy and freedom; they
are willing to make whatever sacrifices are demanded of them.
Since
the interruption of the Jewish Age, the plan of God no longer centers on Israel.
The believing Jew loses identity with race and family when united with all
Church Age believers into one new creation — the Body of Christ — the technical
designation for the Church on earth. While the unregenerate Jew is still
protected by the anti-Semitism clause in Genesis 12:3, spiritual benefits to
the Jew during the Church Age must come through individual faith in Jesus
Christ.
Besides
those which have been enumerated, there are countless advantages and blessings
that accrue to believers with spiritual
growth and maturity
through Bible doctrine resident in the soul.’ Even greater are the privileges
all believers will enjoy in time to come. The Israel of the future is no
exception.
ISRAEL’S FUTURE
Israel’s
future was first declared at the founding of the Jewish nation (Ex. 6:28). That
future began with the acceptance of the Savior (John 3:36; cf., Rom. 9:614).
Likewise, your future was assured the very moment you believed in the Lord
Jesus Christ (John 3:16). Thus, the futures of Israel and Church Age believers
depend solely on the gracious character of God.
Israel’s
future is related to a section of real estate — Palestine. God promised this
region to Abraham at a time when it looked as though he were about to lose out
on a land deal. Genesis 13 records the background of the quarrel over grazing
rights between the “cowboys” of Abraham and Lot. The result was a severance of
family ties that freed Abraham to pursue God’s plan for his life (Gen. 12:1).
To
settle the dispute, Abraham gracefully relinquished to young Lot the first
choice of territory that stretched out before them. Abraham was motivated by
faith in God’s promise; Lot was blinded by human viewpoint and greed. Lot chose
and settled in the land of Canaan and the cities of a lush valley, which
included Sodom (Gen. 13:10-13). There he hoped to carve out a cattle empire for
himself. It is noteworthy that there has never been a “Lotsville” or a nation
founded by Lot. Instead, there is a salt and chemical depository — the Dead Sea
— in the exact spot that Lot picked.
Abraham,
on the other hand, gained blessing from his gracious generosity toward Lot and
his dependence on the Lord. As far as his eyes could see in all directions —
from the Euphrates to the Jordan, from the Mediterranean to the end of the
Negev — God promised this land to him and to his seed forever (Gen. 13:14-15).
To this very moment, the Jews have never yet occupied the entire area which God
promised to Abraham, but they will in the Millennium.
How
does the present status of the Land compare to its future? There is no
comparison. The Millennium begins only with believers. The desert will vanish
and become a veritable Eden (Isa. 35:12, 7). Prosperity and health will abound
(Isa. 35:56). Complete happiness, peace, and contentment will pervade the Land
(Isa. 35:10) and violence will be virtually nonexistent (Isa. 60:18). As for
the descendants of anti-Semites, they will flock to the Jews with a totally
changed attitude. Jerusalem will draw them like a magnet.
And
the sons of those who afflicted you will come bowing to you, and all those who
despised you will bow themselves at the soles of your feet; and they will call
you the city of the Lord, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel. (Isa. 60:14)
Never
again will hostile armies march on Jerusalem. Instead, their offspring will
make annual pilgrimages to the Holy City, which will then be the capital of the
world. Her gates will be open continually to welcome the faithful.
Then
it will come about that any who are left [believers] of all the nations that
went against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, the
Lord of hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Booths. (Zech. 14:16)
For “the Holy One of
Israel” is enthroned in Zion, the “city of the Lord.”
The
future of Israel is inseparably connected to the eternal reign of Messiah,
Jesus Christ. Where, then, does the Royal Family fit into the picture?
Believing Jews and Gentiles of the Church Age will occupy a prominent place in
the Millennium. As God’s elite, the regenerate “will be priests of God and of
Christ, and will reign with Him for a thousand years” (Rev. 20:6).
What
a pleasure it will be to watch the regathered survivors of the Tribulation live
side by side with the resurrected saints of the Old Testament in perfect
environment (Isa. 26-27; Dan. 12:13). What a privilege to have an active part
in the affairs of redeemed Jewry as coregents with the Shepherd of Israel (Isa.
40:11).
But
Israel’s future extends far beyond the Millennium into eternity. When the
present heavens and earth have been destroyed by divine cataclysmic judgment (2
Pet. 3:7), God will reproduce “a new heaven and a new earth” in pristine beauty
and perfection (Rev. 21:1, 5).
Then,
Abraham will receive his city, “whose Builder and Maker is God” (Heb. 11:10;
cf., Rev. 21:10-27). The Jerusalem and Palestine of the new earth will belong
to the Jews, and the rest of the earth will be divided among the saved Gentiles
of previous dispensations. The home of the Church is the new heavens, for we
are said to be a heavenly people. At the end of the thousand years, God’s plan
for human history will have run full cycle; the eternal state begins.
We
can rejoice in the grace of God and in the knowledge that man’s failures do not
hinder the plan of God. Israel’s past with its sublime glory and subsequent
apostasy and decline, the present Israel with its discipline, problems,
persecutions, and pressures will be blotted out by the promised grandeur.
Israel has a future.
77.
The only method of spiritual rebirth is declared in John 3:16.
78. Christian Integrity, 912.
79.
At the first Passover in Egypt, the blood of an unblemished lamb was placed on
the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses (Ex. 12:56, 13). The ritual
expressed the believing faith of those who would participate in the Exodus, the
same faith that Abraham exhibited in Genesis 15:6. The blood of the spotless
lamb was a picture of the blood of Christ, which would be shed on the cross,
paying the price for their salvation.
80. The Divine Outline of History,
80-135.
Applying Biblical Principles
to Anti-Semitism
THE CHRISTIAN
ATTITUDE TOWARD THE JEW
A BELIEVER INVOLVED IN ANTI-SEMITISM is in direct
opposition to the will and plan of God. When we become Christians our
background prejudices and preconceived notions carry over into the Christian
life. These irrational intolerances have a tendency to cling like barnacles on
a ship.
Have
we forgotten that not too long ago we as unbelievers
were at that time
separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers
to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. (Eph.
2:12b)
Only through the intake and application of God’s
Word, which includes accepting the biblical view of anti-Semitism, can we progress spiritually to the point of
overcoming our prejudices and misjudgments.
As
stiff-necked, ex-Gentiles we thank God for grace when we fail, but hypocritically
wish God to judge those we may think are obnoxious. We implore the Lord for
help and expect divine deliverance; yet we would deny that same grace to
others, particularly to the Jews. There is no place for arrogance or
self-righteousness in the Christian life. We have no corner on the market where
God’s grace is concerned. Grace is extended to all.
THE WILD VERSUS THE
NATURAL BRANCHES
In
his Epistle to the Romans, the Apostle Paul warns Christians against the folly
of anti-Semitism. With the advent of the Church Age, these believers had
erroneously assumed that God had no further use for the Jews; consequently,
neither had they. Paul counters their presumptuous perspective with two
questions:
1.
“God has not rejected His people, has He?” (Rom. 11:1)
2.
“They did not stumble so as to fall, did they?” (Rom. 11:11)
Paul’s
answer to both questions is me genoito, a
dogmatic, emphatic no! As the strongest negative in the Koine Greek, me genoito should be translated “may it never
be.” Even though Israel is presently under the fifth cycle of discipline, Jews
continue to live upon the earth. In every generation some Jews will accept
Christ as their Savior and be numbered among the “remnant according to God’s
gracious choice” (Rom. 11:5).
Concerning the fall of Israel, the discipline is
national rather than personal. God never intended that Israel’s dispersion
should lead to racial destruction. Far from it! God turned cursing into
blessing. The administration of divine discipline accomplished what divine
blessing had failed to bring about — the salvation of a maximum number of Jews.
Enjoying divine blessing in the Land, they had rejected Christ in large
numbers. But scattered throughout the earth, suffering under divine discipline,
many would respond to the Gospel. Moreover, through the discipline of Israel,
blessings accrue to the Gentiles. Israel’s
spiritual heritage made the Jews a great nation, and this unique heritage
contributed blessings to the rest of the world. Gathered in one country, the
Jews became clannish and parochial, refusing to go out as missionaries. Jonah
is a classic example of this unfortunate, provincial attitude.
God
commissioned Jonah to go to Nineveh and proclaim a gracious warning of
impending judgment. So antagonistic was the prophet toward the Assyrians, his
nation’s enemies, he fled in the opposite direction (Jonah 1:1-3) wishing them
destroyed rather than spared. When God overruled and compelled His messenger to
obey the divine command, Jonah sulked over the success of his mission (Jonah
3:10; 4:1-3).
With
the passing of time, Israel departed from grace and developed a legalistic
religiosity. The stronger this legalism became, the more the Gospel and the
grace of God were obscured. All these things contributed to the nation’s fall.
Repeatedly,
God pleaded with His people to return to Him, but the pleas fell on deaf ears.
Rejection of the Gospel of salvation had blinded most of Israel (Rom. 11:27).
There comes a time when fledglings must leave their nest; the parent bird
nudges them to the edge. If the gentle prodding is continually ignored, the
birds must be pushed for their own good. And so, God’s scattering of the Jewish
people from their land became a means of worldwide evangelism.
Accordingly,
“their transgressions [their national discipline]” became “riches for the
world” (Rom. 11:12), and “their rejection” became “the reconciliation of the
world” (Rom. 11:15). Whereas once God had representatives based in only one
geographical area, He now had ambassadors in the far regions of the earth.
Wherever these Jews went, they took with them the Word of God — their spiritual
heritage. By being scattered, they became a blessing to the nations of the
world. Thus, the dispersion of Israel is mutually beneficial to both Jews and
Gentiles.
The interruption of the Jewish Age and the
cessation of the Jewish nation’s special duties as custodians and disseminators
of the Word of God inaugurated the Church Age and the appointment of believing
individuals to assume that sacred trust (Acts 1:8). The twelve apostles, all of
whom were Jewish, journeyed throughout
the world to spread the Gospel
(Matt. 28:19). Although Paul had been designated as an “Apostle of Gentiles”
(Rom. 11:13), he considered himself a debtor “to the Jew first, and also to the
Greek [Gentile]” (Rom. 1:16b). He declared that he owed “the gospel, for it is
the power of God for salvation to every one who believes” (Rom. 1:16a), but
first of all to the Jews. Yet the more Gentiles that are saved, the more Jews will
be reached through contact with the Gospel.
Although
a greater number of Jews will accept Christ as Savior in the Church Age than in
the Age of the Jews, the majority of the Royal Family of God will be Gentiles. Paul anticipates the
reaction of the Jews toward the blessing of the Gentiles who once were “without
Christ . . . excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the
covenants of promise . . . but now in Christ . . . have been brought near by
the blood of Christ [His expiatory sacrifice on the cross]” (Eph. 2:12-13).
Paul hoped that this would stimulate many Jews to follow his example and trust
in Jesus Christ (Rom. 11:14).
In
no way does the interruption of the Jewish Age give the Gentiles a license to
be condescending or to put pressure on the Jews. The Gentile owes his place in
the present dispensation strictly to the grace of God. The failure to grasp
this significant truth led early Christians to embark on an anti-Semitic
course. Therefore, Paul deemed it vitally important to immediately reverse this
trend among believers. Using nature as his illustration, the Apostle launched a
timely instruction utilizing the olive tree and its branches.
And if the first piece of dough [Abraham, Isaac,
Jacob] be holy [saved], the lump [the rest of Israel] is also; and if the root
[Jesus Christ] be holy, the branches [saved Jews in the Church Age] are too.
But if some of the branches [unbelieving Jews of all time] were broken off, and
you [saved Gentile], being a wild olive, were grafted in among them [believing
Jews], and became partaker with them of the rich root of the olive tree [Jesus
Christ], do not be arrogant toward the branches [a warning against anti-Semitism]; but if you are arrogant,
remember that it is
not you who supports the root [you do not hold up Christ], but the root
supports you [a reference to the believer’s eternal security]. (Rom. 11:1618)
This
warning from Paul’s day must be reiterated and applied today. As a believer,
you must honor the spiritual heritage of the Jews and beware of anti-Semitism, for God will not tolerate continued
disobedience to His command. You who are guilty of anti-Semitism are guilty of
a terrible sin. Your prejudicial mental attitude and overt conduct are totally
antithetical to a member of the Royal Family of God. Even though you are
eternally secure in Christ, you have brought discredit upon the Lord, and God
will deal with you personally and severely.
Look
again at the olive tree and its branches! The olive tree has long been the
symbol of Israel (Hosea 14:5-6). Firmly rooted in Messiah by faith, the
patriarchs founded the Jewish race. The race, in turn, drew strength from
spiritual nourishment, the sapling grew into a sturdy tree and branched out
into a vigorous nation. As the tree spread, however, it became obvious that
some of the branches did not belong.
These
branches depicted racial but unregenerate Israel. Refusing to draw their
life-giving waters from the well of salvation (Isa. 55:1-6), they drank,
instead, from the river of religion. They rejected salvation by grace through
faith and chose a system of works by which they hoped to gain the approbation
of God. They were dead branches and had to be broken off the tree — a picture
of divine judgment.
This
pruning of dead branches left gaps in the tree. Although at one time in Jewish
history — at the time of the Exodus — all who left Egypt were redeemed, Israel
did not maintain solid ranks. Thus, God filled these gaps with believing
Gentiles; wild olive branches were grafted into the good olive tree.
During the administration of the fifth cycle of
discipline to Israel, the olive tree becomes the Church, and Jew and Gentile
alike are “partakers . . . of the rich root [in union with Christ]” (Rom.
11:17). To the believing Gentile of Paul’s era, this new position became the
basis for inordinate pride and the premise for a false deduction: “Branches [unbelieving Jews] were broken off [by God]
so that I might be grafted in” (Rom. 11:19).
Note
the emphasis on self, the height of conceit — God preferred me! Devoid of grace
orientation, their blatant arrogance emerges. Can you detect a smug racial
superiority, which is so characteristic of anti-Semites? What was the real
reason for the removal of the dead wood from the tree?
Quite
right, they were broken off for their unbelief, and you [believing Gentile]
stand only by your faith. Do not be conceited, but fear; for if God did not
spare the natural branches [unbelieving Jews], neither will He spare you. (Rom.
11:20-21)
The
warning is unmistakable; the wild olive branches must never think that they are
better than the natural branches: “For all have sinned, and come short of the
glory of God” (Rom. 3:23a). The Jews were broken off because of their unbelief;
the Gentiles were grafted in because they believed in Christ (John 3:36).
Standing “only by your faith” indicates that believing Gentiles will always
remain in a saved status. They were saved by non-meritorious faith through the
grace of God. Their union with Christ, their oneness with the natural branches,
depend on who and what Christ is and always excludes pride. Instead of being
anti-Semitic, Christians should be gracious toward the Jew lest they suffer the
consequences of divine discipline. Paul’s warning, “If God did not spare the
natural branches, neither will He spare you” (Rom. 11:21) is pertinent to all
anti-Semites.
Behold
then the kindness [love, gentleness, beneficence] and severity [righteousness
and justice] of God; to those who fell, severity [toward the broken off branches],
but to you God’s kindness, if you [saved Gentile] continue in His kindness;
otherwise you also will be cut [broken] off. (Rom. 11:22)
Genesis 12:3 remains in force and applies to
Jews and Gentiles alike. The fact that you are in the Royal family forever noes
not exempt you from divine discipline. Note the conditional clause, “if you
continue in His kindness!” God’s blessing will continue as long as you continue to grow in grace, which
includes avoiding anti-Semitism. But divine love must express itself in divine
justice once you stray from the path which God delineated for you in His Word.
While you cannot lose your salvation, God’s final divine discipline will remove
you from this life, if you persist on the disastrous course of anti-Semitism.
How
do you avoid anti-Semitism? Through knowledge of Bible doctrine, which is
indispensable to the Christian life (Rom. 11:25). Bible doctrine will make
improvements in your soul, weeding out the arrogance, prejudice, and
intolerance. The writer of Hebrews addresses believers who have drifted from
the path of grace:
But, beloved, we are
convinced of better things concerning you, and [even] things that accompany
salvation. (Heb. 6:9a)
The
principle of continuing in His kindness is the same for Jews and Gentiles. As a
result two changes occur: a change of thought pattern and a change of activity.
Both are accomplished in the filling of the Spirit through Bible doctrine in
the soul. Pride, envy, and hatred are replaced by orientation to doctrine by
means of spiritual growth. Doctrine is designed to solve all problems of the
Christian’s attitude toward the Jew. More than that, doctrine specifies what
the proper attitude should be: a desire to evangelize them, respect for their
past, and support for their future. Remember that there are all kinds of Jews,
even as there are all kinds of Gentiles; we all possess sin natures. To help
you regard the Jew in the proper perspective, consider the following
guidelines.
GUIDELINES ON
EVALUATING THE JEW
1.
Evaluate the Jew as an individual. Evaluate him objectively as you would anyone.
Doubtless you have been evaluated many times with regard to your personality,
thought pattern, poise, attractiveness, athletic ability, capability in some
field, or in any of the many ways in which individuals and their potential are
estimated. But you should never evaluate a person on the basis of race or color of skin. Instead, evaluate them on the
basis of their ideas and integrity
A
Jewish unbeliever should be appraised as you would any other unbeliever: as a
person without Christ and in need of the Gospel. If his standards line up with
the laws of divine establishment, you may approve on that basis. But never, under any circumstances, regard
yourself as a judge or an instrument of divine discipline to the Jew.
2. Evaluate the Jew as a Christian. “Do
not judge lest you be judged yourselves” (Matt. 7:1). Jews who have found Jesus
Christ as Lord and Savior in this
dispensation are as much in union with Christ as are gentile believers —
branches in the same tree. They are no longer considered Jews but Christians.
There is neither Jew
nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor
female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Gal. 3:28)
Therefore, you should
have the same attitude toward born-again Jews as you have toward any other
Christian. That attitude is mandated in Scripture (Rom. 12:16; 1 Thess.
5:12-13) and achieved through spiritual growth (Eph. 4:14-16).
You
have no right to criticize a fellow believer. Judgment is God’s prerogative.
God has all the facts, and only He can fairly evaluate family matters of that
nature. This principle does not rule out legitimate evaluation for the purpose
of church leadership, secular leadership, or qualified employment, where a
reference is required. However, the divine mandate forbids all gossip,
maligning, and censure within the Royal Family of God. Just remember that all
Christians have the right of privacy and spiritual freedom to live their lives
as unto the Lord.
3.
Evaluate Israel as a nation. This poses something
of a problem. What remained of the once-great Jewish nation was scattered
throughout the world in A. D. 70, when God allowed Rome to administer the fifth
cycle of discipline, beginning the second dispersion. Israel as an elect nation
is now set aside until the Second Advent of Jesus Christ. At that future time
the nation will consist of
regathered, living, born-again Jews and resurrected Old Testament saints.
Today,
America is a host nation for dispersed Jews and should receive these people as
we would any other. When they become citizens, they are simply Americans with a
different ethnic background, not an uncommon circumstance in the history of the
United States. Jews who choose to immigrate to other countries merge and adapt
to the culture of their adopted nation.
What
of Palestine as a homeland for the Jews? This, as we saw, is God’s design for
Israel’s future. The present gathering of the Jews in Israel is of no prophetic
significance; it is not the regathering of
national Israel forecast in the Scriptures. The Israeli nation which exists
today has man’s, not God’s, stamp of approval. Consequently, the present Jewish
state is evaluated on its national and international policies, adherence to
law, and the host of other criterion upon which we approve or disapprove the
actions of any allied nation. Notably, since Israel’s inception in 1948, the
United States has maintained close diplomatic and political relations.
Where
does the American Jew’s allegiance belong? Is he obligated to Israel because he
is a Jew, or to America because he is an American? Some Zionists argue that
every Jew’s loyalty should be directed toward the Jewish homeland. This is not
so! Americans owe their allegiance to the flag of the United States. However,
if an American Jew wishes to contribute to the support of Israel, he may do so
on the same premise as he would any cause he deems worthy; but this should not
be an arbitrary demand. An American Jew is in no way obligated to the Jewish
nation.
As for the Christian’s attitude toward Israel, there is no
command in Scripture to reverence that nation as some sacred cow. As with all
nations Israel has good and bad policies and must stand or fall on its own
merits. Neither malign nor deify Israel, but evaluate her policies as you would
any other nation — on the basis of your knowledge of Bible doctrine. Currently
Israel is one of the few countries that understands freedom through military
victory.81 Therefore, respect Israel for its patriotic, courageous
stand.
4. Evaluate the Jew as an American. How
do you evaluate an American? You evaluate him by certain fundamental
principles: his convictions, his patriotism, his political beliefs, his opinions.
Are his norms and standards compatible with those delineated in the
Constitution and Bill of Rights? You extend this courtesy to the gentile
American and to the Jewish American alike.
5. Evaluate the Jew
using doctrine and common sense. May God the Holy
Spirit help you to make the correct applications of the Bible doctrines
outlined in this book. May you have the perceptive ability to wade through the
false and see only the true issues in this crucial period of our history as a
nation.
From the divine perspective a nation’s continued existence
depends on several factors: adherence to the divine laws of establishment,
dissemination of doctrine, spiritual freedom, evangelism, missionary activity,
and an attitude of toleration and support toward the Jews. Your personal
attitude is important because nations are composed of individuals. As goes the
believer, so goes the nation.
There is only one people whom God has promised to preserve
throughout history — the Jews. They may be scattered and persecuted, but they
have never been obliterated nor have they lost their racial identity. Jews are
blessed above all other peoples of the earth as a constant testimony to the
veracity and authenticity of the Word of God — a perpetual reminder of His
grace and faithfulness.
81. See Divine
Establishment, 20-30.
Epilogue
THE SPECTER OF
MILITANT ANTI-SEMITISM once again casts its lethal shadow over world affairs
and the lives of Americans. On 2 August 1990 Iraq invaded Kuwait launching yet
another paroxysm of hostilities across that war torn region. Within the month
the United States at the request of the Saudis responded to Saddam Hussein’s
aggression by committing air, naval, and ground forces to defend Saudi Arabia
and other imperiled Middle Eastern states. Thus began the largest U.S. military
deployment since the Viet Nam War. Over five hundred thousand American troops
were poised for combat in Saudi Arabia. Israel supported U.S. actions against
Iraq and stood ready to contribute all her military power.
In
a counter strategy Hussein took thousands of hostages and declared a holy war
against the United States and Israel. With inflammatory accusations he
attempted to rally further Arab support by casting U.S. troops as crusading
infidels. Hussein then played his trump card of anti-Semitism. By invoking old
hatreds and paranoia against Israel, he sought to justify his rape of Kuwait
and to neutralize the already precarious alignment of neighboring Arab states with the United States.
Saddam
Hussein risked a huge gamble. His incursion into Kuwait was not just an
economic maneuver to plunder Kuwaiti wealth
and control thirty percent of the world’s oil reserves. The more salient
motivation was political: Hussein yearned to establish his leadership in the
Arab world, to wear the mantle of a modern day Nebuchadnezzar, and to
conclusively crush Israel.
Considered
arrogant, the rich Kuwaitis were envied and unpopular among their jealous Arab
neighbors. Further aggravating Arab resentment Kuwait has been a bastion of
cooperation with the West. Hussein surmised that by smashing this tiny country,
he would secure his role as an effective and charismatic commander for the
radical Arab states. Those states would accept him as the champion for a united
Arab front against Israel and the West. Terror engendered by Hussein’s
reputation for ruthlessness would prevent more moderate Arab nations from
organizing opposition to his hegemony.
The Iraqi strongman, startled by the swift American response
to his aggression, arrogantly refused to capitulate to negative world opinion.
Instead, he took the offensive with wily propaganda assaults designed to blame
Middle Eastern conflict on Israel.82 Hussein consistently linked any
withdrawal from Kuwait to an Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank and Gaza.
The underlying premise to this gambit was to present Israel, not Iraq, as the
aggressor in the Middle East. With this well-worn ploy Hussein hoped to rally a
panoply of Arab sympathy and support. He aspired to forge Arab and world
anti-Semitism into a weapon to destroy Israel and ultimately secure his quest
for power.
As the world watched in horror Hussein launched missile
after missile against Israel. No one could doubt his anti-Semitic intent.
Israel was being attacked not because they were a part of the allied coalition
battling Iraqi aggression, but because they were Jews. The attacks ceased only
with the decisive military defeat of Saddam Hussein.
The
aftermath of war places the United States in the precarious political position
of Middle Eastern peacemaker. To maintain the tenuously fragile coalition of
Arab states, the United States must balance Arab and Israeli interests. Any
advantage that the U.S. allows the Arab world to gain over Israel lends tacit
approval to anti-Semitism.
The
military materiel that we have poured into our current Arab allies may put
Israel at future risk. Today’s allies could be tomorrow’s enemies. The United
States must not depart from its long-standing pro-Semitic stance.
As
long as the United States opposes anti-Semitism this nation will remain under
the blessing clause of Genesis 12:3. Deviation from pro-Semitism opens the door
to divine discipline and cursing. This book repeatedly documents the danger of
a national and personal policy of anti-Semitism.
Since
American soldiers have fought and died in the Middle East, the only noble and
sacred cause justifying such sacrifice is opposing anti-Semitism, preserving
Israel as the only democratic country in the region, and evangelizing in the
Middle East. By upholding these honorable principles our military has truly
preserved the great freedom and blessings which God has so abundantly bestowed
on the United States as a client nation.
82.
“Iraq Chief Sees 50-50 Chance for Peace,” The
New York Times, 3 December 1990, p. A6.