Antisemitism
Living Liberty Today with Charlie Earl
It is tragic. It is hateful. It is evil. It is not new. It is alarming but not surprising. Antisemitism represents a case of misidentification and faulty defining. As the insert from the “Merriam Webster Dictionary” illustrates, Hebrews (Jews) and Arabs are both of semitic origin. Although some Arabs conquered parts of Persia, they left a version of the Muslim faith but could not convert the Persian people’s language use to Arabic. Thus, Persians (Iranians) are probably not Semites.
Semitic
1 of 2adjective
Se·mit·ic sə-ˈmi-tik
also
1: of, relating to, or constituting a subfamily of the Afro-Asiatic language family that includes Hebrew, Aramaic, Arabic, and Amharic
Although I am not an historian, anthropologist, archeologist, or theologian, I suspect the seeds of antisemitism were planted when 2 young boys who were half-brothers appeared on earth. It began when God promised Abram (Abraham).
Genesis 17: 2” I will make a covenant with you, by which I will guarantee to give you countless descendants.”
Abraham and his wife, Sarah, were old, and she was past child-bearing age. Although they trusted God’s promise, they became impatient, and Sarah urged Abraham to ‘lie with’ her maidservant Hagar. Ishmael was the result of that union, and 14 years later Sarah became pregnant, and Isaac was born. Abraham was 100 years old, and his tender bride was 90. Consequently, Hagar and Ishmael were banished from the Abrahamic settlement because the legitimate heir, Isaac, had arrived. So, antisemitism began with Semitic strains opposing one another.
Isaac had two sons, Esau and Jacob, and Jacob sneakily grabbed Issac’s blessing to lead the tribe. Jacob had 12 sons who became the historical leaders for the 12 tribes of the Hebrews. One of the sons, Joseph, was sold into slavery by his brothers. He rose to become a top leader in Egypt and encouraged Pharoh to allow his long-lost family to settle in Egypt because of a famine in Canaan. After time, the Egyptians enslaved the Hebrews, thus making antisemitism an official Egyptian policy. After roughly 4 centuries, God and Moses led the Hebrews to freedom. They traveled for 40 years through the wilderness (could have been accomplished in 2 weeks) before finally reaching Canaan…the original land where Abraham had lived.
The Hebrews fought many tribes to win the land. Many were Semitic, and some were not, but the Hebrews (later Israelites) were loathed by most of their neighbors. The purpose of this quasi-Biblical lesson is to illustrate that antisemitism…particularly anti-Jewish antisemitism…is not merely a creation of Columbia or Harvard students but has existed since the beginning of recorded human history. The Hebrews, Israelis, and Jews have been despised, mistrusted, and mistreated. The Third Reich and its crazy, wallpaper-hanging corporal killed an estimated six million Jews during the holocaust of the 1940’s.
As a result of Hitler’s insane pogrom, the State of Israel was formed in 1948…the fourth time the land of Canaan promised by God to Abram (Abraham) was a Hebrew or Jewish nation (the third occupation followed the Babylonian captivity). So, Abrahamic Jews have claimed Canaan as their homeland for a period spanning nearly 40 centuries and have returned at least three times after having been dislodged. Some form of antisemitism has existed for that entire time. In recent centuries the term antisemitism has been limited to hate and/or discrimination for Jews. The other ethnic groups have escaped antisemitic scrutiny.
Why is there so much animus for Jews? Perhaps because Hebrews have claimed to be favored by God for so many millennia, or maybe because when they obeyed God’s Law, they flourished. Except for Israel, Jews are a definite minority wherever they reside, so they are easy targets for prejudice. The bottom line is antisemitism has morphed into an anti-Jew entity while ignoring other semitic peoples. It is not a new phenomenon. It has existed throughout recorded human history. Even though Israel is a secular state, antisemitism includes hating that nation state by individuals, institutions, and nations. It’s perfectly reasonable to oppose the nation of Israel on grounds of policy differences or for global strategic reasons, but if it’s because their Jewish, then that is blatant antisemitism. God knows and prophets have warned us that evil is real. Evil sentiments can be overcome by confession of sins, repentance, and placing trust in Jesus Christ. Some will follow Him, but many will not.