Introduction
Years ago (I cannot remember the source), I heard a story about two people arguing about the existence of God. The antagonist said, “I want you to prove to me, in ten words or less, that there is a God.” The believer simply said, “I don’t need ten words or five words; I can prove to you the existence of God in one word—Jew.”
I can not conceive of any intellectual being reading the history of the Jews, not believing there is a God.
The story goes that King Frederick the Great of Prussia once asked his physician for proof of God’s existence. His physician replied, “Your Majesty, the continued existence of the Jews.”
It’s true. The Jewish people are the most persecuted in history. From the Book of Esther, down through all the centuries (to today), there have been repeated attempts to destroy them.
No other group has been so persecuted. Yet still the Jewish people miraculously survive. Click here for more.
Definitions
Antisemitism
Simply speaking, antisemitism is hostility toward or discrimination against Jews as a religious, ethnic, or racial group. It stems from enmity to all of those of a Semitic language, such as Arabic, Hebrew, Amharic, and Tigrinya, dating back over 4,000 years.
Diaspora
Diaspora is a word that refers to the scattering or migration of people (as in the scattering of the Jews) from their ancestral homeland.
Jew
Those who are descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Israel). The term “Jew” came into being from the day the Hebrews were taken up into Babylon, referencing the area from which they were taken, Jerusalem. In Jeremiah 34:9, the term “Jew” is commensurate with the term “Hebrew”. Also interesting is that the term “Jew” is spoken of in the Book of Esther by the Persians, and elsewhere. “Jew” and “Israelite” are not terms used in the New Testament with the distinction which modern usage has given to them. (Information taken from E. W. Bulliger’s book “Numbers in Scripture”.)
Gentile
Non-Israelite people, distinguishing them from the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The Hebrew word for Gentile is “goy” (plural: “goyim”)
Covenant
The term “covenant” is of Latin origin (con venire), meaning a coming together. It presupposes two or more parties who come together to make a contract, agreeing on promises, stipulations, privileges, and
responsibilities (Baker’s Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology). For more information, click here.
My definition – A covenant is a testament (as in last will and testament) made in blood (cut) between Adonai and His Chosen people. It is irrefutable (Absolute) and can never be broken under pain of death. There is an Old Covenant (Testament – OT) with mankind and a New Covenant (Testament – NT) with mankind. The New does not replace the Old but fulfills it by absolving mankind of animal sacrifices, replacing it with a single sacrifice, the death and resurrection of the only begotten Son of God, Jesus Christ (the Lamb of God). This belief, in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, is the only way to our Salvation.
TCJSB
The Complete Jewish Study Bible. My current Study Bible of choice.
Torah
Torah means “instruction” or “the way to go” but is often translated as “Law”. The Torah is directly linked to the Hebrew (Jewish) relationship with Adonai.
“For out of Tziyon [Zion] will go forth the Torah, the word of Adonai from Jerushalayim [Jerusalem]” Micah 4:2 TCJSB
What I Experienced Years Ago
My Knowledge of the Jews
I grew up in a small tourist village in upstate New York near the Canadian border. Travelers flocked to my community and surrounding towns in winter for the skiing and in summer for the natural splendor that only the Adirondack Mountains can give. Most of the tourists were Jews who came up from New Your City. We welcomed them (tolerated is a better term) for their money. However, they were the most hateful, obstinate, stubborn, self-centered people we ever came across. They wanted nothing to do with you if you were not a Jew. Even though they were the better source of our economy, we were glad when they left.
Currently, I’m reading through the Old Testament again, and I can see these very traits in their behavior towards Moses and God. From the time they left bondage in Egypt to the forty years they were in the wilderness, numerous mind-bending miracles were performed by God on their behalf, and yet they continuously rebelled and refused to have faith in their redeemer, the one true God.
Now that I am a Christian, I think differently of the Jew than I did in my former years. However, from my reading and my past knowledge of the Jews, I can understand why, today, some still see them as a stubborn, stiff-necked people. They have not changed. If they still exhibit the traits they had in my hometown today, in the world courts, I can understand why the world hates them. Do not castigate me for this belief. I am not antisemitic. The Jews are God’s chosen. I pray for them and the nation of Israel. My Lord and Savior came through their heritage. Salvation will come to the Jews. But if it were not for a faithful God in heaven, they would not exist today. They are proof, there is a God.
What the Bible says of the Jews
“And the LORD said to Moses, ‘I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of you.” (Exodus 32:9-10) ESV)
“But they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked in their own counsels and the stubbornness of their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward. From the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt to this day, I have persistently sent all my servants the prophets to them, day after day. Yet they did not listen to me or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck. They did worse than their fathers.” (Jeremiah 7:24-26) ESV
“You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.” (Acts 7:51-53) ESV
Theological Implications
The stubbornness of the Jews in the Old Testament and New Testament speaks to the danger of not observing the will of God. Though there are many (Messianic) saved Jews today, many are not. What are the consequences of their disobedience? From disobedience comes sin, and from sin comes death. Some of us, Gentiles, are as stubborn a people as they. Will we inherit the same consequences? Yes. Yet, we, and the Jew, have hope because He continues to call them: “The Chosen People”, “People of the Book”, “Eternal People”, and “Light unto the Nations:, the “Apple of His eye”. If God our Father will do this for the Jew, He will do this for us.
“Remember these things, O Jacob,
and Israel, for you are my servant;
I formed you; you are my servant;
O Israel, you will not be forgotten by me.
I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud
and your sins like mist; return to me, for I have redeemed you.” (Isaiah 44:21-22) ESV
Short History of the Jews
If you forget about Christianity entirely for a moment and read history books about the Jews, followed up with archaeological references of the Middle East (for example, Archaeology Today), you will find the same story you do in the Bible. Josephus and Philo are primary examples. Another of my favorites is titled The Near East in History (D. Van Nostrand Company, Inc.), a textbook of my wife’s when we were studying at the university. Parts of it read like the Old Testament. However, you will find books that are antisemitic and twist history to back up their humanistic beliefs about our world order. But the history of the Jew is irrefutable. No other nation on earth has suffered such persecution as Israel and the Jews. They should have been wiped off the face of the earth entirely. Even God Himself had second thoughts. Read the dialogue between Moses and Adonai in Exodus 32, if you don’t believe me.
Many have tried to exterminate the Jew, and many continue to do so.
An Abbreviated History (for source, click here)
c.920 BC
Israel is divided into two kingdoms. The 10 northern tribes rebel against the Lord and set up an alternative religious system. The tribes of Judah and Benjamin remain faithful to the Lord for a while. A remnant from the 10 northern tribes joins the 2 southern tribes (known as Judah) to worship the Lord in Jerusalem.
720 BC
The 10 northern tribes were taken into captivity in Assyria. By this time, judgment has been prophesied against Judah for their rebellion against the Lord.
586 BC
The Temple in Jerusalem is destroyed by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon on 9th Av in the Hebrew calendar. The third wave of captives (the first one was around 606 BC) was taken into exile in Babylon. A 70-year exile had been prophesied by Jeremiah. (Jeremiah 29:10)
c.536 BC
The first wave of Jewish exiles returns to Jerusalem, and with the permission of King Cyrus of Persia, begins to rebuild the Temple. The term “Jew” is adopted.
c.445 BC
The third wave of Jewish exiles returns to Jerusalem under Nehemiah, and the walls of Jerusalem are rebuilt. However, a significant number choose to stay ‘in exile’.
167 BC
The Temple is defiled by Antiochus IV Epiphanes, who sacrifices a sow on the altar and halts the Temple worship. Three years later, Judas Maccabeus liberates and cleanses the Temple. This is commemorated by the Feast of Chanukkah. The Hasmoneans ruled Israel until the Roman invasion.
c.4BC – c.30AD
The earthly life and ministry of Yeshua HaMashiach (Jesus the Messiah) fulfill more than 300 Old Testament prophecies. Through His death on the cross, the New Covenant with the house of Israel and the House of Judah was ratified (Jeremiah 31:31-34, Hebrews 8:8-12, and Matthew 26:26-28). Shortly before His crucifixion, Jesus prophesied the destruction of Jerusalem and the scattering of the people until ‘the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled’. (Luke 21:24)
70 AD
The second Temple was destroyed by the Romans, again on 9th Av in the Hebrew calendar. Approximately one million Jews were killed, and most of the survivors were sold into slavery or scattered into the nations. However, a small remnant of Jewish people remained in the Land throughout the dispersion.
There is much more
We, of course, can not forget September 1939 to May 1945, when six million Jews are murdered by the Nazis under the leadership of Adolf Hitler during the Holocaust of World War II.
When Israel became a nation in 1948, they were surrounded by nations that tried to erase it from existence. For Israel, the war is remembered as the War of Independence because it secured the country’s existence despite hostile neighbors.
The hate and desire to “wipe the Nation off the face of the earth” continues. The current terrorist attack of October 7th, 2024, and current published enemy edicts, proclamations, and agendas and verify that.
The Point
The point being, how can a people, the Jew, Israeli, continue to exist during such terrible persecution? For the answer, continue to read on.
God’s Covenants
With the Jew
The Abrahamic Covenant (Genesis 15) was confirmed in the land and Diaspora by circumcision. This was not a Covenant of Salvation but one of Blessing, which confirmed the Mosaic Covenant by binding the words of Adonai on foreheads and hands. This does not replace but is dependent upon the Noah and Abraham Covenants. Although Israel (Hebrews) was unfaithful and was dispersed (Diaspora) wavered in its faithfulness, God remained faithful.
Covenant Promises
The promises were fulfilled by Yeshua.
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away (based on the Covenant of Noah), not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law (Torah – Mosaic Covenant) until all is accomplished. Therefore, whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:17-19) ESV
With the Gentile
“It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you (the Jew) as a light for the nations (Gentiles), that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” (Isaiah 49:6)
All eyes on Israel
On his deathbed, Jacob prophesied of Judah, his son.
“The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, Until Shiloh (the coming of the one to whom it belongs) come:” (Genesis 49:10) ASV
In 70 AD, Jerusalem fell to the Roman army led by General Titus. He destroyed the second temple (‘not one stone left on another’). This was called the First Jewish-Roman War. The Jews, even today, are strong believers in the Prophecy of Jacob (Israel) above. The lamentations from Israel and Jerusalem were loud, thinking that God had not lived up to His Covenant. They were lost, not knowing that Shiloh had come, and they missed Him.
Summary
If you want proof there is a God, look to the Jews, look to Israel. This Nation should have been wiped off the globe centuries ago. But they are the greatest miracle in the world today. Yes, pray for Israel, and while you pray, cry for the Jew.
Conclusion
“He (Jesus) sang to the soul of the nation and the nation did not hear” (modified Lyrics from Amici Forever). What love, what faithfulness, what compassion, Jesus Christ displayed to the Jew and the world. The Jew did not see or believe Jesus, so Salvation came to the Gentiles. But Love never quits. We see in His Word that during the Tribulation, Salvation will come to the Jews.
“Lest you be wise in your sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written,” (Romans 11:25-26) ESV
The lesson we should receive from this lies in the faithfulness of our Father in Heaven and our Lord, Jesus Christ. Whatever condition the world is in and whatever condition we find ourselves in, knowing His faithfulness gives us hope. Hope will always exist until His Kingdom comes. When this happens, we will no longer need hope – He (Hope) will stand before us.
The Jew is living evidence that there is a God.
Enough Said
Thy Words were found, and I did eat them; and Thy Word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by Thy name, O LORD God of hosts. (Jeremiah 15:16) ESV
