Defending the Jews: The Truth about Israel
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