The Persecution of Israel and the Jews in the Middle Ages, in the 1940s, and Today

The Persecution of Israel and the Jews in the Middle Ages, 
in the 1940s, and Today

(Vandalized synagogue. Click for source.)

We are seeing today an increase of hatred against Jews and Israel. The vitriol is astounding. Pro-Nazi and pro-Hitler accounts are popping up all over social media and the number of "anti-Semitic" incidents, or instances of persecution against Jewish people, are increasing each year. 

This article is divided up into these following parts:

1. Introduction

2. Hatred of the Jews During the Middle Ages

3. Biblical Answers for an Accusation Against Jews

4. "Replacement Theology," a False Doctrine

5. God Makes a Promise to Abraham and His Sons

6. Persecution of the Jews in Nazi Germany

7. Persecution of Jews Today

8. Conclusion

1. Introduction

I am writing as a Gentile follower of Jesus Christ. Jesus taught that we ought to love our neighbor as ourselves. There is no teaching of Jesus or of the Bible that agrees with the persecution of Jews. Persecuting the Jews is actually the very opposite of what God calls us to do. God wants us to love and care for others.

(Vandalized synagogue. Click for source.)

In Mark 12:31, Jesus said: "[31] And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these." Earlier, Jesus was saying to love God the Father with all the heart, soul, mind, and strength, teaching that this was the first commandment.  

The Persecution of Jews Then and Now and the Rise of Hatred Against Israel

The Persecution of Jews Then and Now and the Rise of Hatred Against Israel

(Vandalized Jewish tombstones. Click for source.)

I am writing to you as a Gentile and as a believer in Jesus Christ, who is my personal Savior and Lord. This article will focus on some issues today that have had their roots in ancient beliefs, which, sadly, are popular among many people today, even though these beliefs are unbiblical and hateful toward Jewish people.

__________

In social media websites and all around the world is a phenomenon which has been accelerating over the last few years. It is the hatred for Israel and for Jewish people (who are descendants of Jacob, a grandson of Abraham). 

The Holocaust: The Truth about This Great Destruction of the Jewish People

The Holocaust: The Truth about This Great Destruction of the Jewish People

The year was 1938. All across Germany the Nazi propaganda machine had been spewing out lies and deceptions about the Jews, trying to rally the German people behind their effort to eventually eliminate every last Jew. Germany had had many economic problems due, in part, to the strict reparations imposed on them by the League of Nations and the Great Depression which came in 1929 (a) (See Works Cited at the end). The Nazis had blamed the Jews for their economy. They had blamed the Jews for their problems and the hatred of the Jews was reaching a boiling point.

Anti-Semitism in Medieval Europe

Like their European ancestors before them, the citizens of Nazi Germany blamed the Jews for their national and personal problems. Blaming the Jews for problems and then killing them later is nothing the Nazis invented. Nearly 550 years earlier, in 1389, hatred toward the Jews was also boiling over in the medieval city of Prague.

The Jews were not allowed to live with the rest of the people of most European cities and instead lived in separate communities called Ghettos. Due to a Catholic belief that Catholics should not be creditors or tax collectors, those jobs were left for the Jews (c). This sadly gave the Europeans an excuse to hate them more. Jews were blamed for sicknesses which were really due to bad hygiene and other problems. In 1389, citizens of Prague massacred thousands of Jews in the Prague Ghetto and looted and ransacked their homes (b).

“Kristallnacht”

Fast-forwarding to 1938, over five-hundred years later, Nazi Germany was also blaming the Jews for her problems. The propaganda was working and during the night of November 9–10 (later called “Kristallnacht”), thousands of Germans took out their anger on the Jews. Across Germany (which included Austria at the time) over 1,000 synagogues were set ablaze and approximately 7,500 Jewish businesses were looted and vandalized (d). During the chaos, over 90 Jews were murdered and 30,000 were arrested. While this horror was taking place, fire brigades and police were told to let Jewish properties burn and be vandalized. They could only intervene if “Aryan” properties were accidentally harmed (d).

Tragic Events Leading Up to the Holocaust

Defending the Jews: “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion Exposed” (Part 2 of 2)

In part one, we looked at Anti-Semitism in medieval Europe and during the Catholic Crusades. We saw how Medieval rule forced Jews to wear special badges identifying them as Jews (just as in Nazi Germany), and how they were forced into ghettos, and how they were wrongfully accused of unfounded crimes (both in Nazi Germany and in medieval Europe).

Defending the Jews: "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion Exposed"

(Part 2 of 2)

(Click here to see part 1.)

The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion Exposed

(Sergei Nilus)

There is a mistaken belief (existing even today) that Jews are behind the Illuminati and a sort of Jewish New World Order. Henry Ford believed it and he wrote many newspaper articles attacking the Jews, claiming that they were part of a conspiracy to destroy America (g) (see Works Cited below). This belief was also made popular by the publication of The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion. The book was published in Russian in 1905 by Sergei Nilus (d). In the book the Jewish characters are conversing back and forth about their plans for controlling the world. It has been proven that The Protocols… is a hoax and was based on an earlier publication.

In 1865, a book titled “Dialogue aux Enfers entre Machiavel et Montesquieu, ou la Politique de Machiavel au XIX. Siècle. Par un Contemporain” (or "A Dialogue in Hell Between Montesquieu and Machiavelli") was published in Brussels, Belgium (e). Its author Maurice Joly was a lawyer and satirist who lived during the reign of Napoleon III. He wrote the book as a dialogue between different characters with the intention of criticizing his government (d). He was arrested shortly after its publication and was sentenced to 18 months of jail time (e).

Some 40 years later, The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion was published. Its similarity to “Dialogue in Hell…” by Maurice Joly is very striking.

(Maurice Joly)

“A Dialogue in Hell”, by Joly (f):

[Fourth Dialogue]

“Machiavelli: You do not know the unfathomable cowardice of humanity, servile in the face of force, pitiless in the face of weakness, implacable before blunders, indulgent before crimes, incapable of supporting the contrarieties of a liberal regime, and patient to the point of martyrdom before all the violences of bold despotism, upsetting thrones in its moments of anger, and giving itself rulers whom it pardons for actions the least of which would have caused it to decapitate twenty constitutional kings.”

Now, compare The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion to "Dialogues in Hell".

“Protocols:”(f)

[Number 3, Paragraph 16]

“It is the bottomless rascality of the goyim peoples, who crawl on their bellies to force, but are merciless toward weakness, unsparing to faults, and indulgent toward crimes, unwilling to bear the contradictions of a free social system but patient unto martyrdom under the violence of bold despotism. It is those qualities which are aiding us to independence. From the premier-dictators of the present day the goyim peoples suffer patiently and bear such abuse as for the least of them they would have beheaded twenty kings.”

There are many more examples of plagiarism in “The Protocols.”

Maurice Joly’s “A Dialogue in Hell:” (e)

[pg. 250.]

“MONTESQUIEU: How are loans made? By the issue of bonds entailing on the Government the obligation to pay interest proportionate to the capital it has been paid. Thus, if a loan is at 5 per cent., the State, after 20 years, has paid out a sum equal to the borrowed capital. When 40 years have expired it has paid double, after 60 years triple: yet it remains debtor for the entire capital sum.”

“Protocols:”(e)

[pg. 77]

“A loan is an issue of Government paper which entails an obligation to pay interest amounting to a percentage of the total sum of the borrowed money. If a loan is at 5 per cent., then in 20 years the Government would have unnecessarily paid out a sum equal to that of the loan in order to cover the percentage. In 40 years it will have paid twice; and in 60 thrice that amount, but the loan will still remain as an unpaid debt.”

[Click here to see more examples.]

As you can see, The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion plagiarized Maurice Joly’s much earlier publication. The only reason for it being published was to spread lies about the Jews. Sadly, Henry Ford bought into this big lie, as did Adolf Hitler. In Hitler’s Germany, the Nazi party published and distributed large quantities of “The Protocols” (h).

Hitler wrote (in Mein Kampf) in strong support of “The Protocols” (h):

Defending the Jews: The Truth about Israel (Part 1 of 2) (The Truth About Anti-Semitism in Medieval Europe and the Knights Templar)

Defending the Jews: The Truth about Israel

(Part 1 of 2)

(Click here to read part 2.)

For thousands of years Israel was recognized as an important nation in the Middle East. During different periods of Israel’s history, kings and rulers gave her tribute and gifts. She was accepted as being a legitimate country and was envied by her neighbors. During the days of King Solomon, Israel had vast stores of gold and silver and precious stones: wealth that today would exceed the wealth of billionaires. This was ancient Israel’s golden age. But it didn’t last.

When Israel turned away from their God and served the idols of the nations around them, they became wicked and burned their children in the fires of Moloch, the Caananite god of child-sacrifice.

God brought them warning, by the mouth of prophets, time and time again, but they did not listen. Finally, God allowed the Assyrians to capture the northern kingdom of Israel, leaving the southern kingdom of Judah and Benjamin. The Jews in Judah and Benjamin did not learn from their northern brothers and continued in a period of idolatry (which was broken up by periods of returning back to God).

Again, God in His mercy sent prophets to warn the people and to turn them back to Him, but the people (for the most part) did not listen. And, eventually God allowed Babylon to take the Jews into captivity. After a period of 70 years, just as God had promised, He returned the Jews back to their land.

Some time went by and then Jesus Christ, the Messiah, came. Jesus Christ fulfilled all the prophecies of the Messiah who God promised to be the Savior of the Jews and of the Gentiles (see Genesis 3:15, Psalm 22, and Isaiah 53). The self-righteous, arrogant Pharisees and Sadducees rejected Jesus Christ as the Messiah, even after all the miracles He did, and had Him crucified on a Roman cross. But, other Jews believed in Jesus Christ and they spread the Gospel message of salvation to the world, starting at Jerusalem. (Paul the Apostle was a Jew, as were all the 12 disciples of Jesus.)

In 70 A.D. Titus, a Roman general, besieged Jerusalem and destroyed the Temple, and Jews were scattered into many countries. In their new countries, they gathered together in communities and preserved their culture as best they could.

Jews in Europe

(Jews wearing yellow badges in Medieval Europe.)

During their whole existence in Europe and elsewhere, the Jews were despised by their Gentile neighbors. Sir Walter Scott, author of Ivanhoe, gives the reader a taste of the hatred and loathing Europeans felt toward Jews during the middle ages.

Scott writes (Ivanhoe, Chapter IV, pg. 1.):

Oswald, returning, whispered into the ear of his master, "It is a Jew, who calls himself Isaac of York; is it fit I should marshall him into the hall?"

"Let Gurth do thine office, Oswald," said Wamba with his usual effrontery; "the swineherd will be a fit usher to the Jew."

"St Mary," said the Abbot, crossing himself, "an unbelieving Jew, and admitted into this presence!"

"A dog Jew," echoed the Templar, "to approach a defender of the Holy Sepulchre?"

"By my faith," said Wamba, "it would seem the Templars love the Jews' inheritance [the land of Israel] better than they do their company."

[…]

"Hush," said Cedric, "for here he comes."

Introduced with little ceremony, and advancing with fear and hesitation, and many a bow of deep humility, a tall thin old man, […] approached the lower end of the board. His features, […], would have been considered as handsome, […][but] during those dark ages, was alike detested by the credulous and prejudiced vulgar, and persecuted by the greedy and rapacious nobility [….]

[…]

[…] Cedric himself coldly nodded in answer to the Jew's repeated salutations, and signed to him to take place at the lower end of the table, where, however, no one offered to make room for him. […] and the very heathen Saracens, as Isaac drew near them, curled up their whiskers with indignation, and laid their hands on their poniards [daggers], as if ready to [kill him] [….]

Jews have been vilified and mistreated for thousands of years and it is nothing they have earned. Many people today detest them for simply being Jewish. But, this attitude is nothing new. It has been around for a long time. During the middle ages Jews, who were sometimes vilified as “Christ-killers”, were denied the right to own land. Because the Catholic Church did not permit their members to lend money, Jews were allowed to do the lending (a) (see Works Cited in part 2). They also were allowed to serve kings as tax collectors, and sadly many people despised them (a).

The Knights Templar and the First Crusade

God Made an Everlasting Covenant with Israel. 10 Points Why the Jews Are Special to God

God Made an Everlasting Covenant with Israel: 10 Points Why The Jews Are Special to God

1. Gods Chose Israel (the Jews) for His People.

Psalms 122:6 - Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee.

Zechariah 2:8 - For thus saith the LORD of hosts; After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye.

Joel 3:1 - For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem,

Genesis 12:3 - And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

2. Gods Gives Abraham a Promise.

Genesis 12:1-3

12 Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee:

2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:

3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

3. Gods Gives Abraham a Covenant.

Genesis 15:18-21

18 In the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:

19 The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites,

20 And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims,

21 And the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.

4. God gives Isaac, Abraham's son, the Abrahamic covenant; Not Ishmael.

Genesis 17:18-20 (bold and underline added)

18 And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee!

19 And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac:

and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.

20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation.

5. God Confirms the Covenant with Isaac.

Genesis 26:1-8 (bold and underline added)

26:1 And there was a famine in the land, beside the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went unto Abimelech king of the Philistines unto Gerar.

2 And the Lord appeared unto him, and said, Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of:

3 Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father;

4 And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed;

5 Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.

6 And Isaac dwelt in Gerar:

6. God Confirms the Covenant with Jacob (Later named Israel).

Genesis 28:10-15 (bold and underline added)

10 And Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran.

11 And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep.

12 And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.

13 And, behold, the Lord stood above it, and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed;

14 And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.

15 And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.

Genesis 32:28

28 And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.