ANTI-SEMITISM - ITS CAUSE AND CURE

In the book of Esther, in the Hebrew Scriptures we become better acquainted with the First-Testament-People of God. This book is all about the Jews. 3500 years of history precede the book of Esther yet the word "Jew" occurs only five or six times in the Bible. In the book of Esther it occurs fifty-two times!

Next to the King in power there was a man by the name of Haman, who hated the Jews. Among the Jews there was a man named Mordecai, who wouldn't bow down to Haman. This angered Haman to such a degree he worked out a plot to destroy all the Jews in the Kingdom. He obtained the King's signature and approval for the plan. The day was then set that all the Jews should be destroyed everywhere, and Mordecai was to be slain. Haman had a gallows built which was fifty cubits high. (According to our present-day measurements, this is seventy-five feet).

Haman had it built for Mordecai, or so he thought, but who hung on that gallows? None other than Haman. He did not know it, but he had it built for himself! This happened to him because he tried to destroy the Jews!

God's Word declares, He is against anyone who is against the Jewish people. All the way through the Scriptures it is repeated again and again that God is the enemy of Israel's enemies. He will bless all who bless the Jewish people and He will curse all those who curse them.

We want to discover the cause for Jew-hatred in the world. There are those who say it is because of their shady or unlawful business practices. But I ask you, don't we find among the Gentiles this same practice? On the other hand, not all Jews and Gentiles are unfair, many Jews and Gentiles are very fair and decent in their business affairs.

Some say that because the Jew is different in appearance, he is singled out for ridicule. They describe the Jew as having a large, hooked nose and large features. Anyone who has studied facial characteristics to any degree, knows that facial features differ in various parts of the world. Jews have small noses, pug noses, large, sharp and pointed noses, etc. just like the Gentiles do! Do we hate or look down on the Chinese or Japanese because their eyes are not like ours? What a foolish idea!

There are some who say that the Jews are hated because they are all rich and control the money of the world. However, if we would study the facts, we would find that there are poor Jews as well as rich Jews. We would also find that many of the millionaires and the wealthy of the world are Gentiles!

Some people say that the main reason for this hatred of the Jew is that: "It was the Jews who crucified Christ." They say that the Jews must suffer because of the death of Jesus upon the Cross. If we study the true account in the Tenach (the Hebrew Scriptures), as well as in the Gospels of the New Testament, we will discover that those who were involved in this deed, and were responsible, are named in the second Psalm, the first and second verses. We will now read this portion of the Hebrew Scriptures:

"Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The Kings of the earth set themselves, and the Rulers take counsel together against the Lord, and against His anointed...."

Several parties are named as being against the Lord and the Messiah whom He sent. These are more clearly listed in the fulfillment of this prophecy in the New Testament:

"Who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things? The Kings of the earth stood up, and the Rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against His Christ. For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, For to do whatsoever Thy hand and Thy counsel determined before to be done." (Acts 4:25-28)

Here we find that the parties involved in the death of Messiah were: The Kings and Rulers, who are named as Herod and Pontius Pilate, and also heathen, who were the Gentiles at that time, and the people, and these were the Jews. All these were gathered together against the Lord and His Messiah as had been determined by God before the world began!

It is an error to say that hatred of the Jews came about because of the death of Christ. And all the other reasons given by people today for the existence of Anti-Semitism do not hold water because Anti-Semitism was in the world before all these conditions existed! It was there in the time of the Pharaoh of Egypt, in the lifetime of Moses. You know the story of how Pharaoh tried to destroy the Jewish people because he thought they were too many and that they would overthrow him. But in the end the Jews were delivered by God and it was Pharaoh who was destroyed.

Where did Anti-Semitism come from? What is the real cause of this evil thought? The answer is very plain. It comes from the devil. Did you know that the first time the devil is mentioned by the name "Satan" is when he acts against Israel?

"And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel." (I Chronicles 21:1)

Satan is the one who is the cause of all the persecution and suffering of Israel. Satan hates the nation through whom so much blessing has come to the world, especially Messiah Jesus. When the devil is angry against Israel, it always ends in his defiance against the Messiah and Saviour, Yeshua ha Meshiach.

From Pharaoh, the first anti-Semite on record, to Amalek, Haman, then to the King of Syria in 168 B.C., to the Roman War in 66-70 A.D., Satan was the moving factor in Jewish persecution and bloodshed. Through the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, the Russian pogroms and the Nazi holocaust you read the history of what Satan has done through men against my Jewish people.

But there is coming a day when the fierce attacks against the nation of Israel will come to an end. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob will fight against those who have persecuted the Jew. Then Satan will have his final attack on Israel and God will cast him into the Lake of Fire as prophesied.

No more will Satan be able to torment anyone, but he will be tormented forever and ever. And all those who lent themselves to the devil, to do his work of hatred will also be judged for cursing Israel. The time is very near to the coming of King Messiah when all the peoples of earth will stand before the judge of all the earth. Are you ready for that great day? Repent of your sins, turn to God who will forgive you. Receive Jesus into your heart and live for Him in this world.