ANSWERS: 4
  • I think jews were hostile to many of their own prophets and thats why God revealed through Moses to Israelites about their attitude towords prophets and other religious icons.
  • I'm not sure in what sense you mean anti-semitic. If you mean it to mean "anti-Jewish" I would hasten to say that it is not so, neither is it pro-semitic. It is a compendium of events and beliefs, it does not take a stand on people. It does retell of the Jewish stories which depict a unique relationship between god and the Jews and could be seen as "pro" Jew as it posits that special place for them, but that is not the bible, only the story it includes. There are stories which show the Jewish people being rewarded and being punished, but the text develops punishment within the context of failure to abide by the laws and demands set forth in the same text, not as a capricious indication of hatred or agenda against the group.
  • If anything, the Israelite nation enjoyed far more of God's favor then any other. Often other nations attacking Israel are recorded as being utterly annihilated, and when acting as obstacles are destroyed. I find Judah 10:10-16 amusing (a friend pointed this out to me) :D Israel turned away from God so He gave them into the hands of an enemy nation. They begged Him to save them so He did. They did this SEVEN times, each time God delivered them to an enemy nation and each time saved them when they cried out to Him. Finally, after the 7th nation, they cried out to Him and He said: "Didn't I deliver you from the Egyptians, and from the Amorites, from the children of Ammon, and from the Philistines? The Zidonians also, and the Amalekites, and the Maonites, did oppress you; and you cried to me, and I delivered you out of their hand. Yet you have forsaken me, and served other gods: wherefore I will deliver you no more. Go and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen; let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation." Then the Israelites admitted their sins and tried to turn to Him again and God couldn't bear Israel's suffering any longer. He loved them that much. Even though Israel so utterly rejected Him so many times, He has still remained faithful to His promises, and despite all the captivities, Israel is still around today. Have they messed up, a lot? OH YEAH. But the clear Biblical message is that we ALL have. In showing Israel's faults, the idea isn't to make us think them any better or worse then anyone else. Rather, God wants us to realize that even the best of us like the patriarchs Moses, Job, and David all fall short of God's goodness. Thus, God alone is worthy of our worship and praise, and no mere men. We should live to please Him alone, to serve Him alone, and owe Him all the worship of our hearts, for it is with such offerings He is pleased. 1 Samuel 16:7 But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart. Isaiah 58:5 Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD? 6 Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? 7 Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?
  • All Jews are Semetic in origin, but not all Semites are Jews. The Jews were a particular tribe of Semetic herders that founded a culture and went to war with a great number of other peoples who were ancestrally 'Semetic'. By analogy, all Sioux were Native American, but not all Native Americans were Sioux.

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