OUR DEBT TO THE JEWS? – (2)
A RESPONSE TO A SERMON BY DR. H. PAT ALBRIGHT
“It isn’t what we don’t know that gives us trouble; it’s what we know that ain’t so.” (Will Rogers)
PART TWO
B. Settling the Origin of the Word “Jew”
The word “Jew” is one of the most misunderstood words in the Bible. Most of us were brought up believing that contemporary Jews are all Israel. So, it is not unusual that Dr. Albright believes the same.
The first appearance of the word “Jew” is in 2 Kings 16:6, which tells of an incident when King Rezin, an enemy of the Kingdom of Judah, drove the “Jews” out of Elath (about 630 B.C., according to Dr. Bullinger). Elath was a community in the country of the Edomites, avowed enemies of Israel. It would have been more accurate to call them “Judahites,” which describes lineal descendants of the Patriarch Judah.
After the division of the Israel tribes (I Kings 12:16ff), the Southern kingdom was known as the Kingdom of Judah and occupied a land called Judea. When the remnant (composed of the Tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and Levi) of the Kingdom of Judah returned from their Babylonian captivity, about 450 B.C., they found their country occupied by foreigners with whom some of the remnant intermarried. The books of Ezra and Nehemiah relate God’s command to the remnant regarding their alien wives.
Now when these things were done, the princes came to me, saying, The people of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the people of the lands, doing according to their abominations, even of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. For they have taken of their daughters for themselves, and for their sons: so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of those lands: yea, the hand of the princes and rulers hath been chief in this trespass. And when I heard this thing, I rent my garment and my mantle, and plucked off the hair of ‘my head and of my beard, and sat down astonied. Then were assembled unto me everyone that trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the transgression of’ those that had been carried away; and I sat astonied until the evening sacrifice. Ezra 9:1-4 (Emphasis added)
A few hundred years later, Edomites (the product of intermarriage of Esau with Canaanite/Hittite wives), now called Jews were brought into the land of Judah by John Hyrcanus.
Esau took his wives of the daughters of Canaan; Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and Aholibamah the daughter of Anah the daughter of Zibeon the Hivite; Genesis 36:2 (Emphasis added)
Now these are the generations of Esau, who is Edom. Genesis 36:1 (Emphasis added)
And in every province, and in every city, whithersoever the king’s commandment and his decree came, the Jews had joy and gladness, a feast and a good day. And many of the people of the land became Jews; for the fear of the Jews fell upon them. Esther 8:17 (Emphasis added)
The Jews of the Book of Esther added the forbidden genetic line of Amalek, descended from Esau/Edom, to the Judahites. In a few hundred years, a further infusion of the Esau line, imported by John Hyrcanus, added further adulteration to the Judahites. As noted earlier, Josephus identified the Edomites as Jews.
The Jewish Encyclopedia further states that “Edom/Edomite” is derived from Esau, the name given Jacob’s brother and son of Isaac. Esau, angry over losing his birthright to Jacob and to spite his parents, married two Hittite/Canaanite women, a race Isaac’s descendants were forbidden to marry. Accordingly, the children of Jacob/lsrael were forbidden to marry Esau’s descendants.
Edom is the name which was given to Esau, the first-born son of Isaac, on the day he sold his birthright to Jacob for a mess of pottage, the reddish color of which gives it its name. “Edom” (Genesis 25:30). The country which was subsequently inhabited by Esau and his descendants was called “the field of Edom” (Genesis 32:. 3, R. V.) or “the land of Edom” (Genesis 36:16; Numbers 33: 37). “Edom” in the Bible is also used as an equivalent for “Edomites …”
Ewald’s History of the Jews adds the following:
…the Idumeans … were lsrael’s most bitter foes…These old hereditary foes of Israel were still occupying that portion of the territory of which they had taken possession when Cyrus sanctioned the return [from Babylonian captivity] (See Ezra and Nehemiah), and as far as we can tell, this monarch was by no means prepared to expel the Idumeans from the lands they had occupied and cultivated for fifty or sixty years. Later on, towards the time of Nehemiah, they must have succeeded already in gaining a firm footing in Hebron, for example, and other places to the south …
The word Jew, then, comes from the Patriarch Judah (Judahites), the fourth son of Jacob, and describes those who were residents of the ancient land of Judea (Judeans). Today, the word Jew refers to anyone, without regard to lineage, who claims to be Jewish or who practices Judaism
A Response to a Sermon, “Our Debt to the Jews”
Question: Contemporary Jews, the Bible, and History say that Jews are not Israelites. How say you?
During the days of Jesus, the residents of Judea were called Judeans or Jews, for the word became descriptive of geographical location as well as of religion and heritage. The Apostle Paul is a good study in understanding of what is being written here. He declared:
1. That he was an Israelite of the tribe of Benjamin. He was not a Jew by birth but a Benjaminite. Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; Philippians 3:5 (Emphasis added)
2. Paul was born in Tarsus of a Pharisee father, and he was raised a Pharisee, therefore he was a Jew by religion. Evidently, Paul’s father or his grandparents were among the proselytes from Hebrewism to Pharisaism. In Galatians 1:13-14, Paul tells us that when he was a Pharisee he practised the Jews religion:
13. For ye have heard of my conversation [conduct] in time past in the Jews’ religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it:
14. And profited in the Jews religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers. Galatians 1:13-14 (Emphasis added)
The New King James Version (NKJV) puts these verses thus:
13. For you have heard of my former conduct in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it.
14. And I advanced In Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers. (Emphasis added)
To put this in a more modern context, the 17th Century settlers in the Massachusetts Bay Colony were Protestant Christians by religion and British by heritage, known as Americans. If you were an American throughout the 17th, 18th, and most of the 19th Centuries you were considered to be white, Anglo-Saxon (with “Saxon” being a derivative of “Isaacson,” a contraction of “Isaac’s sons”), Protestant Christian, and of British extraction. “British” to mean descending from natives of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. In like manner, Paul was a white, Benjaminite, Christian, and of Israelite/Hebrew extraction.
Today, an American can be of any national origin, race, and religion. Similarly, Judeans, during Paul’s life, were a multi-racial (of many nationalities) people, practising many religions.
To sum up: The word “Jew” is derived from Judah, the patriarch of the tribe of Judah. When “Jew” refers to a genuine descendant of Judah, it should more properly be called “Judahite.” The residents of Judea were known as Judeans and were called “Jews.” The Jews living in Judea in Jesus’ day were a mixed lot of genuine Judahites and Idumeans (Edomites). The Edomites, descended from Esau, had intermarried with Judahites and these were the principle members of the Pharisees.
C. Judea occupied by Idumeans in 1st Century A.D.
During Jesus life, Palestine was composed of three provinces: Judea, Samaria, and Galilee. The residents of these provinces were known as Judeans, Samarians, and Galileans respectively.
It is not commonly understood that the population of Judea at the time of Jesus was comprised largely of Edomite/Idumean non-Israelites called Jews. The population also included a smaller number of Levites, Judahites, and Benjaminites who returned from Babylonian captivity, ca 536 B.C., some of whom intermarried with the mixed race of Edomites known as Idumeans
It was the Idumeans who could not hear Jesus’ voice for they were not His sheep. They were present in sufficient numbers to control the government under the Edomite ruler Herod and to shout with such fervor that Jesus had no chance at a fair trial. Jesus identified them as non-Israelites.
Jesus answered them [the Pharisees]:
I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Father’s name, they bear witness of me. But ye believe not because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: John 10:25
They were the Pharisees of whom Jesus said in Matthew 23:15:
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte (to Judaism), and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.
Let’s look at an excerpt from the Jewish Encyclopedia (1925 Edition), from the article entitled “Edom:”
The infusion of Idumean (Edomite) blood was introduced into a spiritually degraded Jewish nation leading to domination by the Edomite Herodians. Under this administration, the Romans appointed Caiaphas high priest, who sat in judgment on Christ and condemned him to death.
A further testimony of the adulteration of Judahite blood is quoted from Flavius Josephus:
“Judas Maccabeus conquered their territory (Edom) for a time (163 B.C.). They were again subdued by John Hyrcanus (ca 125 B.C.) by whom they were forced to observe Jewish rites and laws. They were then incorporated with the Jewish nation – With Antipater began the Idumean dynasty that ruled over Judea till its conquest by the Romans.”
“Hyrcanus took also Dora and Marissa, cities of Idumea (Edom), and subdued all the Idumeans {Edomites}; and permitted them to stay in that country, if they would circumcise their genitals, and make use of the laws of the Jews {Pharisaism}; and they were so desirous of living in the country of their forefathers, that they submitted to the use of circumcision, and the rest of the Jewish ways of living; at which time therefore this befell them, that they were hereafter no other than Jews.“ (Emphasis added)
Richard Gottheil and M. Seligsohn, writing under the title “Edom, Idumea” have this to say about the mixed parentage of the Jews:They (the Edomites/Idumeans) were again subdued by John Hyrcanus (c.125 B.C..), by whom they were forced to observe Jewish rites and laws (ib. xiii. 9, § 1; xiv. 4, § 4). They were then incorporated with the Jewish nation, and their country was called by the Greeks and Romans “Idumea” (Mark iii. 8; Ptolemy, “Geography,” v. 16).With
Antipater began the Idumean dynasty that ruled over Judea till its conquest by the Romans.
II. Judaism is not the Religion of Jesus, nor the Source of Christianity, nor is it Hebrewism.
Pharisaism, i.e. Judaism, is a political-religious sect that arose among the Jews after their return from Babylonian captivity, about 500 B.C. Its doctrine is based on the Babylonian Talmud. It is not the original religion of the Old Testament Hebrews.
Rabbi Louis Finklestein supports the fact that Judaism is Pharisaism:
Pharisaism became Talmudism, Talmudism became Medieval Rabbinism, and Medieval Rabbinism became Modern Rabbinism. But throughout these changes of name… the spirit of the ancient Pharisees survives unaltered… From Palestine to Babylonia to North Africa, Italy, Spain, France, and Germany; from these to Poland, Russia, and Eastern Europe generally, ancient Pharisaism wandered ….rabbinic Judaism, the first-born child of Pharisaism, remains a unit until this day.
The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia verifies Rabbi Finklestein’s statement:
The Jewish religion as it is today traces its descent, without a break, through all centuries, from the Pharisees. Their leading ideas and methods found expression in a literature of enormous extent, of which a very great deal is still in existence. The Talmud is the largest and most important single member of that literature.
George W. Comel, Associated Press writer, stated:
As Jesus once observed in the first century, The Pharisees, progenitors of modern rabbinic Judaism, would “traverse sea and land to make a single proselyte.”
Chief Rabbi Stephen S.Wise validates Rabbi Finklestein and Mr. Cornel:
The return from Babylon, and the adoption of the Babylonian Talmud, marks the end of Hebrewism [in other words, it marked the end of all ties to the Old Testament Scriptures] and the beginning of Judaism.
Herman Wouk, noted Jewish author of The Winds of War, relates his view of the sacred book of Judaism, which is not the Bible:
The Talmud … is to this day the circulating heart’s blood of the Jewish religion. Whatever laws, customs, or ceremonies we observe – whether we are Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, or merely spasmodic sentimentalists – we follow the Talmud. It is our common law.
In Mark 7:13, Jesus is speaking to the Pharisees:
“Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye”.
The “tradition” of which Jesus is speaking is the Pharisees’ religion, Judaism
Paul makes the point about the traditions of the Pharisees clearly in Galatians 5:13-14:
“For you have heard of my former conduct in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it. And I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries in my own nation being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers.” (Emphasis added)
The Jewish Encyclopedia, in an article entitled “Jesus of Nazareth,” states:
…In almost all his [Jesus] public utterances he was harsh, severe, and distinctly unjust in his attitude toward the ruling and well to do classes. After reading his diatribes against the Pharisees, the Scribes, and the rich, it is scarcely to be wondered at that these were concerned in silencing him.
A Response to a Sermon, “Our Debt to the Jews”
Matthew 23:13-15 and 23-29 may well be the diatribe referred to above (please see also Matthew 15:1-8 and John 8:41-47). Jesus, in Matthew 22, has been admonishing the Pharisees and scribes about their unbelief. Now Jesus turns to address the many people listening and tells them of the unscriptural practices of the Pharisees:
“But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.”
“Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous.” Matthew 23:13-15 and 23-29
In John 8:40-45, Jesus has a revealing discussion with Jewish Scribes and Pharisees. Note that Jesus tells them they cannot hear His word and why they cannot understand:
“But now ye seek to kill, me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham. Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God. Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. (of his own: or, from his own will or disposition) And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not….He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God”. Emphasis added.
In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus says to the Pharisees and scribes:
“For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do. And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.” Mark 7:8-9 (Emphasis added)
A Response to a Sermon, “Our Debt to the Jews”
In warning about the Pharisees, Paul writes to the Philippians:
” Beware of dogs [men of impure minds], beware of evil workers, beware of the concision [the outward rituals of men, ie. the Pharisees ]. For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh” Philippians 3:2-3
We, too, need to be aware of people of impure minds, evil workers, who control our media and entertainment, and occupy high places in government. A very forceful comment by Dr. John H. Thayer makes the case splendidly:
The apostle John, inasmuch as agreeably to the state of things in his day he looked upon the Jews as a body of men hostile to Christianity, with whom he had come to see that both he and all true Christians had nothing in common as respects religious matters, even in his record of the life of Jesus not only himself makes a distinction between the Jews and Jesus, but ascribes to Jesus and his apostles language, in which they distinguish themselves from the Jews, as though the latter sprang from an alien race: John xi.8; xiii. 337 – And those who (not only at Jerusalem but also in Galilee, cf. vi. 41, 52) opposed his divine Master and his Master’s cause, – esp. the rulers, priests, members of the Sanhedrin, Pharisees, he does not hesitate to style of Ioudaioui, since the hatred of these leaders exhibits the hatred of the whole nation towards Jesus: i.19 ; ii. 18, 20; v. 10, 15 sq.18; vi. 41, 52; vii.l, 11, 13; ix.18, 22; x.24, 31, 33; xviii. 14. Cf. B.D. s. v. Jew; Franke, Stellung d. Johannes z. Volke d. alt. Bundes. (Halle, 1882).
Josephus, the famous chronicler of events in the first century of the Christian era, in a chapter subtitled “The Three Sects of the Jews” says:
The followers of the first of whom are the Pharisees; of the second the Sadducees; and the third sect, who pretends to a severer discipline, are called Essenes. These last are Jews by birth, and seem to have a greater affection for one another than the other sects have. These Essenes reject pleasures as an evil, but esteem continence and the conquest over passions to be a virtue. They neglect wedlock, but choose our other persons children, while they are pliable, and fit for learning; and esteem them to be their kindred, and form them according to their own manners. (Emphasis added)
That Josephus declared the Essenes to be “Jews by birth” suggests that he believed them to be pure Judahites (Israelites) and not like the Pharisees who, while also Judeans (residents of Judea), were largely Edomites and Judahites whose gene pool had been adulterated by intermarriage with Edomites and other forbidden nations, i.e. the Hittites, the Hivites, the Perizzites, the Girgashites, the Jebusites, the Moabites, the Zidonians, and the Ammonites.
Josephus’ remarks about the Pharisees and the Sadducees and Dr. Thayer’s statement about the Jews present credible evidence that the Jews are an alien race and not of true Israelite stock.
Consider these questions:
Who harasses Christians and seeks to eradicate the Bible, the Ten Commandments, and Christmas from public places?
END of part two – To be continued.
