Why Do So Many People Hate the Jews?
“When Pilate saw that he could not prevail at all, but rather that a tumult was rising, he took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, “I am innocent of the blood of this just Person. You see to it.’ And all the people answered and said, ‘His blood be on us and on our children’”. Matthew 27: 24, 25
At the trial of Jesus, Pilate asked who he should release, Jesus or Barabbas. When the crowd said Barabbas, Pilate asked what he should do with Jesus. The crowd cried out “crucify Him.” Pilate absolved himself and declared his innocence. The crowd further shouted, “His blood be on us and on our children.”
Is that the reason there is a universal hatred of Jews?
If so, it is based on a mistaken understanding of this text. Those involved in the incident accepted responsibility for this decision. In doing so they called down God’s judgment upon themselves and their offsprings. “Their children” are related to their own children, not all further generations. Such a judgment fell on them a few years later with the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70.
However, what is considered the world’s oldest hatred is often based on the belief that Jews were collectively guilty of killing Jesus — a view that remained Catholic doctrine until 1965. Many people still cling to the concept. It is wrong.
Jews comprise less than 0.2% of the world’s population? Why is such a minority hated by so many? Antisemitism is overwhelmingly perpetrated by non-Jews. It may occasionally be perpetrated by Jews on Jews in a phenomenon known as auto-antisemitism.
In consideration of why so many people hate the Jews it is expedient to divide the people of the world into groups.
1. A. There are people who don’t know of the Jews.
B. There are people who know of them, but they don’t know about them. They do not know their biblical record or their extra-biblical history.
2. There are people who hate them because most people hate them. It is a herd mentality. Without reason they just consider it the popular thing to do. They go along to get along.
3. There are people who hate the Jews for a reason flawed though it may be. It is the logic of these people that deserves to be addressed.
There is not “a” reason for hatred of the Jews, but a compounding of numerous reasons in society today.
At the present time many old prejudices that span all throughout history have bubbled to the surface. Some are political, some religious, some cultural, some economic, some racial, and some behavioral.
Some consider Jews greedy and money-grubbing. Others consider Jews to be committed to world domination.
Some hold hostility toward Jews because of what they consider Jewish bigotry. It is felt some Jews have a “chosen people” complex causing them to consider themselves superior to others.
Now consider this important factor. God promised Abraham, “I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you” (Genesis 12:3).
I personally have sought to support Jews and Israel and will continue to do so. I am not unmindful of many of their collective drawbacks, offenses, and transgressions. But neither am I oblivious of their attributes. God’s promise includes a blessing for those who do bless Israel, the Jews. God said, “I will curse him who curses you”. That is an easy one to avoid.
A Builder or a Wrecker
Edgar “Eddie” A. Guest wrote over 1100 poems. Years ago I memorized one of them. The philosophy it involves has influenced my life. It now follows:
As I watched them tear a building down
A gang of men in a busy town
With a ho-heave-ho, and a lusty yell
They swung a beam and the side wall fell
I asked the foreman, “Are these men skilled,
And the men you’d hire if you wanted to build?”
He gave a laugh and said, “No, indeed,
Just common labor is all I need.”
“I can easily wreck in a day or two,
What builders have taken years to do.”
And I thought to myself, as I went my way
Which of these roles have I tried to play?
Am I a builder who works with care,
Measuring life by rule and square?
Am I shaping my work to a well-made plan
Patiently doing the best I can?
Or am I a wrecker who walks to town
Content with the labor of tearing down?
“O Lord let my life and my labors be
That which will build for eternity!”
This poem asks a question each of us should ask of ourselves. Which are you?
Builders are given to inspiring, lifting loads, making people happier, putting hope in the heart of the downcast, elevating attitudes, giving a cause for living. They see on the horizon of life a bright uplifting light that energizes, elevates and edifies. Builders make homes happier, work spaces brighter, and friendships closer. Just being in company with a builder is inspiring. Instinctively they sense the need for a kind word, an antidote for despair, a positive presence. They know the awesome power of a listening ear and offer it. Fears are calmed, a will to carry on motivated, and a renewed outlook engendered by focusing on the bright side of life. People leave their presence with a spring in their step, a smile on their face, and hope in their heart. Summarily they lighten your load and brighten your road.
Of them God’s word says: “Therefore let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another.” (Romans 14: 19)
“Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing.” (I Thess. 5:11). “Let all things be done for edification” (1 Cor 14:26).
Edify and edifice come from the same root. To edify is to build up. Do it.
What’s Fair for the Goose
Vladimir Lenin used a military term to explain how to conduct a successful revolution. He said take the high ground. In warfare of his era in a ground engagement the army occupying the high ground had a decided advantage. He considered the high ground to be entertainment and education.
Harvard, MIT, U Penn, and a plethora of other colleges and universities did what? They are considered the pinnacle of the high grounds.
Believing in academic freedom I ask whatever happened to academic responsibility and accountability?
I have served as a trustee of two faith based universities and one seminary. Often at question was were faculty members required to be of the sponsoring denominations faith. I enquired of the president of Notre Dame if their faculty members had to be Catholic. His reply was no, but they had to know the University was and act responsibly, meaning they were expected to uphold the standards of the university.
That is logical. A witch doctor teaching his philosophy of medicine in a respected med school isn’t reasonable. However, having a Catholic soundly teach principles of physics in a Methodist University, or a Baptist accountably teach chemistry in a Presbyterian University is reasonable if they uphold the standards of the school.
Having a person teach the virtues of Communism in an American University is highly irresponsible. A tenured teacher on the faculty of an American university advocating antisemitism isn’t acceptable.
The universities in Germany were hot beds for antisemitism and hence supporters for Hitler’s assault on Jews that burgeoned into a horror.
The First Amendment “protects speech no matter how offensive its content,” according to the ACLU. Why then do they not protect conservative apologists who are invited on campus by responsible student groups? Why do they allow radical groups to shout down and force off campus conservative advocates?
How would the administrators of liberal universities respond to student groups applying the same liberal techniques to Jews if applied to blacks? Would such be accepted? No, and it should not be. If not why then is such treatment of Jews allowed.
Fewer than one quarter of 1 percent of the world’s population is Jewish. Why then are they such a hated group? Though often asked, the question remains unsatisfactorily answered.
Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, expressed the fear that “we currently face as great a threat to the safety and security of the Jewish people as the one we faced in the 1930s — if not a greater one,” but he could find no better explanation for its persistent presence other than calling it “a spiritual and psychological illness.”
Israel has the dubious distinction of being the only member of the United Nations whose right to exist is regularly challenged and whose elimination from the world map is the aim of others.
What then is the answer to the reason for anti-Semitism?
The rabbis of the Talmud saw it in the very name of the mountain on which the Ten Commandments were given. “Sinai” in Hebrew is similar to the word “sinah” — hatred. It was the Jews’ acceptance of a higher law of morality and ethics that was responsible for the world’s enmity.
Unless there is a dramatic change Christians can expect to be the next target of hatred for the same reason.
Integrity: No Price Too Great
Proverbs 2: 6 – 8
Jesus asked the ageless question, “What shall it profit a man if he should gain the whole world and lose his own soul?”
For thirty pieces of silver Judas sold himself. What’s your price? If your integrity were up for sale, what would be your asking price?
Integrity is best defined by some synonyms, such as, honesty, faithfulness, sincerity, and innocence. It means having a mind free of subterfuge and deception. The writer of Proverbs used the Hebrew word for integrity, TOM (tome), that in our text is translated “walks upright.” It is an axiom that means “one who has a lifestyle free of a hidden agenda.” It means you don’t have anything to hide.
We must have an integrity compass set on a true spiritual north. That setting is Jesus Christ. We must be locked on to Him or we lose our direction.
Integrity is a 24 year-old Abraham Lincoln serving as postmaster of New Salem, Illinois, for an annual salary of $55.70. Even the youthful Lincoln showed the integrity that earned him the title “Honest Abe.” The New Salem post office was closed in 1836, but it was several years before a government agent arrived from Washington to settle the accounts with Ex-Postmaster Lincoln who was at the time a struggling young lawyer not doing well. The agent informed him that there was $17 due the government. Lincoln crossed the room, opened an old trunk, and took out a yellow cotton rag bound with a string. Untying it, he spread out the cloth revealing the $17. He had been holding it all those years. Lincoln said, “I never use any man’s money but my own.” That is integrity.
“He who walks in integrity walks securely…” (Proverbs 10: 9). “Walks” is a word for “lifestyle.” This is an appeal to maintain a lifestyle of integrity. When life is over, God will not measure our integrity by our moments of brilliance but by our consistency. To do so, a word within the word integrity speaks of a characteristic needed. Notice it “inteGRITy,” it takes GRIT.
Integrity means singing “I will be true to thee till death” and meaning it. It means engaging in a death-defying dedication to demonstrate it.
Integrity means abiding by your convictions against all odds when your closest friends are saying of the world “I came, I saw, I concurred.” It is being able to walk away saying, “I came, I saw, I conquered, through the power of Jesus Christ.”
He is a shield to those who walk upright, that is, in integrity.
Notice, it is not integrity that is a shield; it is God Himself who is the shield for the person who manifests integrity. As a shield takes the blows on itself intended for another, so our Lord takes our potential injury on Himself.
The fact a shield is needed clearly implies warfare. A person who dares to maintain a lifestyle of integrity can expect to be engaged in spiritual warfare. The person who valiantly and virtuously maintains integrity will not lack for a Helper nor an ultimate reward.
How Deep Are Your Spiritual Roots
Jesus said, “Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. Those by the wayside are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away. Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity. But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience” (Luke 8: 11 – 15).
In this parable the seed is representative of the gospel.
Four types of soil and the response of seed sown on them represent various responses to the gospel. In reviewing them consider persons you have known and by which response they are characterized. Don’t stop there. Which type are you?
Note, “some fell by the wayside.” “Those by the wayside are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.”
The wayside was the path where people walked, and nothing could grow because the ground was too hard. Do you know anyone like that?
Observe, “some fell on rock.” On rock was where the soil was thin, lying upon a stony shelf. On this ground the seed sprang up quickly because of the warmth of the soil, but the seed was unable to take root because of the rocky shelf. These are “the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away.”
Got anybody in mind?
Consider, “some fell among thorns….” “Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity.” Among thorns described soil that is fertile — perhaps too fertile, because thorns grow there as well as grain. The thorns choked out the good grain and did not make a productive crop.
Does anyone come to mind?
“Some fell on good soil.” Good ground described soil that was both fertile and weed-free. A good, productive crop grew in the good ground. The crop may be a hundredfold increase to what was sown. Now, “the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience.” Hopefully several people come to mind.
May you properly consider yourself as good soil. If so, study the Word, that is the seed, that you may know what crop to expect. The more you study the more deeply your roots will grow and the better the crop.