THE term “Jew” was originally applied only to the Judæans, but it came into general use after the Captivity, and now all who are of the stock of Israel are called Jews. Abraham has always been referred to as the great progenitor of the Jewish race. He came of the Semites, who settled in the countries east of Palestine, and Josephus asserts that the reason of his being called “Abram the Hebrew” was that he was one of the descendants of Heber, who was the great-grandson of Shem. It was to Abraham that God first clearly revealed His intention of choosing a people peculiar to Himself, and it was also to Abraham that God originally committed the rite of circumcision.
The history of Israel is a pitiable one, but it was undoubtedly on account of sin that this backsliding nation underwent the many sufferings which it did. Jehovah promulgated the Law and the Testimony upon Mount Sinai, adding promises for obedience and threatenings against disobedience. The latter were disregarded, and times without number Israel was guilty of backsliding, and times without number God healed the backsliding and, in pity, forgave His peculiar people. But “can a leopard change his spots?” The goodness of Israel was like the morning cloud and as the early dew that vanisheth away.
Scripture leads us to believe that there has always been, among the seed of Abraham, a remnant according to the election of grace, even in the most dark and troublous times. One can picture a continual incense of prayer ascending to the God of Heaven from the abodes of pious Jews in every century since Abraham. The prevailing theme of prayer, especially after the prosperous days of David and Solomon, was no doubt the advent of the great Deliverer.
Judaism was never in a more benighted state than it was at that epoch which saw the accomplishment of the utterance of Isaiah, “Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder.” Jesus, the gentle and loving Jew (a term applied to our Lord by a modern Jewish writer), was truly one of the people, brought up among them, and sharing their afflictions and sorrows. It was for this very reason that they rejected Him, because they were looking for a mighty Messiah who would restore their nation to its former glory. The crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth may be regarded from one standpoint as the most awful event in history, and from another the most sublime source of comfort. Little did the surging throng at Calvary realise that they were witnessing “God’s love made manifest” on the Cross. The destruction of Jerusalem and the subsequent dispersion and universal persecution of the Jews may be regarded as the fulfilment of the imprecation, “His blood be on us and on our children.”
Nothing has ever been able to effect the extermination of the Jews as a race, though they have often been on the very brink of it. The dispersion has, in fact, tended to preserve the people, notwithstanding pogroms and persecutions. At the present time there are reckoned to be about thirteen and a half millions Jews in the world. Like Christianity, Judaism has its various sects—Orthodox, Reformed, Liberal, etc. Of course, modern Judaism is vastly different to the religion inculcated by the Law of Moses. A multitude of regulations and observances have taken its place, though the fasts and feasts of the Mosaic dispensation are still to some extent observed.
Notwithstanding the unbelief of the Jews, the pitying eye of Jehovah is certainly upon them. God has ordained that they “be not wholly unpunished” so long as they reject the Messiah, and He has permitted nations to persecute them; but there is a woe resting on their persecutors. Obviously one of the reasons why God’s woe is upon Russia at the present time is the heartless manner in which the people of that country have treated, and are treating, the Jews. Let us remember the words of the blessed Saviour, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” If the Crucified One Himself was so forgiving, is it not miserable irony on the part of a Gentile to say tauntingly to a Jew, “You crucified our Lord,” and then shortly afterwards to address himself to a fellow-Gentile and use, in a blasphemous manner, the very Name he had been pretending to champion? It is to be hoped that Britain will not encourage within its borders the anti-Semitism which is so rampant in our day.
O. W. L. I.