Chapter 3
Who Are the Ashkenazi Jews
(a.k.a. “Khazars”)?
Isaiah 11:13 states, “Ephraim will not be jealous of
Judah, nor Judah hostile
toward
Ephraim.” Hosea 1:11 states, ”The people of Judah and
the people of
Israel
will be reunited…” We’ve identified Palestinians as being
descendents of
Ephraim. Next, we need to identify “Judah”. To do this,
we'll trace the path of the
Ashkenazi/Khazar/Eastern European Jews from the Holy Land to
southern Russia.
It’s important to restate having a physical ancestry traced
back to the Holy Land
in no way supports wicked acts committed by either Israeli
Jews or Palestinians.
Physical ancestry simply establishes fundamental rights of
both peoples to reside
in the Holy Land. Once that’s established, religious laws in
the Bible and Qur'an
direct both Ashkenazi Jews and Palestinians how to live
peacefully alongside each
other in each group's allotted share of the Holy Land.
We'll start with a
question: Did the Romans really drive out large numbers of
Jews after Jewish revolt in 70 A.D. and the Bar Kochba rebellion in 132-135 A.D.?
Or, were only a few Jews killed while most remaining
inhabitants (i.e., today's
Palestinians) remained in place? If there was no revolt and
subsequent mass
expulsion of Jewish tribes, then Ashkenazi Jews are as
likely to be Israelites as
Hindus from India. If this were the case, if a vast majority
of Jews remained in
the Holy Land following the rebellion, there'd be few or no
Jews of the Diaspora
needing to return. It would discredit the claim of several
million Ashkenazi Jews
in Israel and around the world that they are descendents of
native Israelites.
It would mean the Palestinians’ genetic makeup is the
standard for determining
whether someone's ancestors came from the region. It would
also mean Muslims
would never be at peace with or accept alien invaders who
had no prior God-given
rights to be there.
To answer this
question, try Googling (do a “search”) for
"Bar Kochba rebellion".
and other sources will establish in a scientific, historical
sense that the Bar Kochba
revolt did take place, it was put down with extreme brutality,
and large numbers of
Jews were driven from Judea and
Galilee. It'll also show that Samaritans, who
inhabited the central region of the Holy Land, did not
revolt and were not expelled.
In addition,
the Qur'an, hadiths (sayings of Muhammad not included in the Qur'an),
and history of Islam provide witness to the presence of a
large expatriate Jewish
community in the early 7th century (600's A.D.)
living in the locale of Mecca and
Medina. They also provide a historical account of what
motivated the Jewish tribes
who lived there to flee from
their centuries-old refuge in exile.
Mecca and Medina, which together were the cradle of Islam, sit on the
Western
edge of the Arabian peninsula, a short distance southeast of
ancient Israel--
just outside the borders of the Roman Empire. How did such a
large number of
Jews migrate there, and when and why? There's no record in
either the Bible or
Qur'an of Israelites being taken captive to Mecca. So, they
weren't descendents
of Israelites transplanted earlier by the Assyrian and
Babylonian Empires.
Their captives were resettled far to the east in Iran (Elam)
or across the Arabian
desert in Babylon, northern Iraq or Syria. There's no other
logical explanation for
such a large community of Jews to live outside their
homeland unless they'd fled
there to get away from the Romans.
Now, here's an
account from the Qur'an referring to either the Jewish revolt
of 70 A.D. or the Bar Kochba revolt of 132-135 A.D.:
Sura 17:4-8, God;
4 And We solemnly
declared to the children of Israel in the Book,
“Twice surely will
ye enact crimes in the earth,
and with great
loftiness of pride will ye surely be uplifted.”
5 So when the menace
for the first crime came to be inflicted,
We sent against
you Our servants with terrible prowess;
and they searched
the inmost part of your abodes,
and the menace was
accomplished.”
6 Then We gave you
the mastery over them in turn,
and increased you in wealth and children, and made you a most numerous host.
7 “We said, “If ye
do well, to your own behoof will ye do well:
and if ye do evil,
against yourselves will ye do it."
And when the
menace for your latter crime came to be inflicted,
then We sent an
enemy to sadden your faces,
and to enter the
Temple as they entered it at first,
and to destroy
with utter destruction that which they had conquered.
8 "Haply your Lord will have
mercy on you!
but if ye return We will return:…"
Verses 5-6 refer to Babylonians, and Daniel
being raised to head advisor to the
Babylonian king. It
may also refer the event Jews celebrate at Purim, where a
Persian politician
tried to have Jews exterminated, but had the tables turned on
himself and his
backers instead. Verses 7 & 8 speak about another enemy coming,
twice entering the
Temple, and then utterly destroying the land they conquered.
That enemy must be
the Roman Empire--no one else accomplished the feat prior
to Muhammad reciting
the first Qur'an. Note how after
entering the Temple the
second time that the
conquerors, "destroy with utter destruction
that which they
had
conquered". That what
got the Jewish tribes moving.
Verse 8 reads, " "Haply your Lord will have mercy on you! but if ye return
We will
return:…" Here, the word
"return" has several possible meanings. It could
mean "returning"
to God through obedience or perhaps repeating ("returning to")
a previous error. In
either case, God also "returns", either to reward or punish
them. A third, more
likely, possibility exists. Verse 8 immediately follows the
account of the
Romans utterly destroying the Jewish Israelites, so "return"
in this instance
more aptly fits "returning" refugees. This interpretation agrees
with widespread
Jewish and Christian beliefs that the large scale return of the
Ashkenazi Jews after
World War II had prophetic significance.
So, Western and Islamic history and the
Qur'an agree the Romans devastated
the parts of the
Holy Land occupied by the Jewish tribes, i.e., Judea and Galilee.
Together, these
establish that a huge Diaspora followed the defeat of the Jews
in 70 A.D. and 135
A.D.
The next question to be answered is: Where
did these exiles go, and how would
they have arrived
in Khazaria (south Russia between the Aral and Black Seas)?
While many Jews were already settled
in lands elsewhere in the Roman Empire
at the time of the
Bar Kochba revolt, it made no sense whatever for refugees
fleeing the fighting
to go directly into the heart of the empire slaughtering them.
The logical choice
for someone from Judea was to stay near water and travel
southeast across
what's today Jordan to the eastern shore of the Gulf of Aqaba,
then follow the
coastline south until the Gulf of Aqaba merges into the Red Sea.
Traveling further
south brought the refugees outside the Romans' grasp and to
the environs of
Mecca and Medina). For refugees from Galilee it made more sense
to flee north and
eastward to Syria and Iraq. It's a historical
fact and common
knowledge that large numbers of Jews settled in
Babylon--that's where a lot of
the Talmud was written.
So, many of the fleeing Jewish tribes
settled nearby their lost homeland, which subsequently was occupied almost
continuously by the Romans (the Eastern or
"Byzantine"
Roman Empire after the original empire split in two) for roughly the
next five hundred
years--until Muslims took over. There was a brief period in the
early seventh
century when the Persian Empire helped Jews temporarily to regain
control of
Jerusalem, but the Byzantine Empire retook it five years later. So, for
almost the entire time
prior to the spread of Islam it wasn't safe for Jewish
refugees to return
to the Holy Land. Consequently, they were still in Mecca and
Medina when Islam
arrived on the scene.
Now, comes the difficult part: explaining
why Jewish tribes left centuries-old
havens to travel
north to southern Russia (aka "Khazaria "). It's not hard finding
evidence of good
reasons for an exodus of Jews from Muslim lands back in the
seventh and eighth
centuries. What's difficult is including this information in an
article meant to
promote peace rather than making prospects for peace between
Muslims and Jews
seem like an impossible dream. So, before providing negative
evidence of why many
Jews migrated north to Khazaria, we'll first see ample
proof that peace
between Jews and Muslims is a valid and viable alternative.
The Qur’an Supports Interfaith Peace
Sura 5:69;
Verily, they who
believe (Muslims),
and they who
follow the Jewish religion, and the Christians, …—
whoever of these believeth in God and the last day,
and doeth that which is right,
shall have their
reward with their Lord:…"
Sura 3:113-114;
113 Yet all are not alike:
Among the people
of the Book is an upright folk,
who recite the
signs of God in the night-season, and adore:
114 They believe in God and the Latter Day, and
enjoin justice,
and forbid evil,
and speed on in good works.
These are the
righteous [whatever
their religion]."
Sura 5:69 and Sura 3:113-114 prove Jews and
Christians who do their religions
correctly are
"upright", "righteous", and "believe in God",
i.e., they're "faithful"
according to the
Qur'an. Now, let's take this understanding and apply it in the
following passage to
what's happening in the Holy Land…
Sura 49:9-10;
9 If two bodies of the faithful [i.e.,"good" Jews and Muslims] are at war,
then make ye
peace between them;
and if one of
them wrong the other,
fight against
that party which doth the wrong,
until they
come back to the precepts of God;
if they come
back, make peace between them with
fairness,
and act
impartially; God loveth those who act with impartiality.
10 Only the
faithful are brethren;
wherefore make
peace between your brethren;
and fear God,
that ye may obtain mercy."
The meaning of the term "Islam" is
"submitting to God". Muhammad was saying
people who follow
other religions properly are also submitting to God, i.e., they're
"Muslims"
of a different sort. That's partly the reason for the following passages:
Sura 2:256;
Let there be no compulsion in religion.
Now is the right way made distinct from error."
Sura 3:20;
SAY to those who
have received the Book, and to the common folk,
"Do ye
surrender yourselves unto God?"
If they become
Muslims, then they are guided aright:
but if they
turn away—thy duty is only preaching,
and God's eye is
on His servants."
Fortunately for us
today, the Qur’an contains a strong message of forgiveness.
Sura 5:13;
But for breaking
their covenant
We have cursed
them ["the
children of Israel"]…
But forgive them,
and pass it over:
verily, God
loveth those who act generously!"
Sura 41:34;
…Turn away evil by what is better, and lo!
he between whom and thyself was enmity,
shall be as though he were a warm friend."
No permanent enmity need exist between
Muslims and either Jews or Christians.
It's a choice people
make, even if millions choose "wrong" and teach others to do
"wrong".
Now, on to examining the darker side of relations between Jews and
Muslims that led so
many Jews to depart the Middle East long ago.
THE REASON MANY JEWS FLED FROM MUSLIM LANDS
Relations between Muslims and Jews over the
centuries and in different places
weren't uniformly
good or bad. Much of the time, Jews received better treatment
in Muslim lands than
in Christian. However, at times their relations with each other
were awful. When that
happened, Jews feared for their lives. Terrified people are
apt to flee places
if the people who terrify them are stronger than themselves.
The hadiths attest
that many Jews did indeed go into exile. Whether they became
terrified as a
result of their own misdeeds or someone else's fault isn't the issue.
We're simply going
to see that Jews who opposed Islam had extremely sufficient
and dire motivation
to flee the Middle East and make a bee-line north to Khazaria.
Relations between Muslims and Jews began to
deteriorate after Muhammad left
Mecca to live in
Medina (called "Yathrib" at the time) in 622 C.E. There were three
significant Jewish
tribes living in Medina almost 500 years after the Romans
drove out their
ancestors; the "Bani Qaynuqa", "Bani Nadir", and "Bani
Quraiza".
In a short span of
time after Muhammad arrived in Medina, the three Jewish
tribes were gone.
The Bani Qaynuqa and Nadir were exiled and their possessions
taken from them. A
leader of the Bani Nadir named "Ka`b bin al-Ashraf" was
murdered/executed
after being tricked into leaving his "castle" under orders
from Muhammad. An
account of this may be found in the al-Bukhari collection of
hadiths in book 5,
passage #369. It's also recorded by Muslim sources that this
act terrified other
Jews.
If that wasn't enough, after being accused
of betraying Muslims to the Meccans,
every adult male
member of the third tribe, the Bani Quraiza, was executed and
their women and
children divided among the Muslim army. As news of this spread
(along with the
spread of Islam), many Jews naturally would want to leave.
Try doing a computer
search of "Ka`b bin al-Ashraf", "Bani Qaynuqa", "Bani
Nadir",
and "Bani
Quraiza". You'll have loads of
references to look up and a much clearer
understanding of the
predicament the world faces today.
These actions against the Jews of Medina
weren't unprovoked, and it's
necessary to
understand the historical context in which they happened. It was
an unfortunate event
directed towards a specific person and group threatening
the early Muslims'
security, but it's been taken by many Muslims as being meant
globally and for all
time. Knowledge of this isn't hidden from Israeli Jews, even
if Western people
are ignorant of it. It means that if they're put between a rock
and a hard place,
Israelis will likely be desperate enough to resort to using “nukes”.
We need to get this
one "right" for everyone's sake.
Here's a brief
account of the historical context for what happened: In Islam's
early days, Muslims were opposed by Mecca's polytheistic
Arab rulers, whose
armies together greatly outnumbered that of the Muslims of
Medina. For several
years the Meccan rulers tried to entice the Jewish tribes
into an alliance against
the Muslims. Muslims were in a very precarious position,
outnumbered by the
Meccan army and threatened from within by the high
likelihood of a large fifth
column (the Jewish tribes of Medina). The manner in which
Muslims handled the
internal threat sent Jews on a new exodus north (and
elsewhere).
Alright, I've done
what I can to prepare you for the anti-Jewish parts of the
Qur'an and hadiths. Now, here's some examples of these:
Sura 5:13 (speaking about Jews);
But for breaking their covenant
We have cursed them ["the children of Israel"], and…hardened their hearts.
…Thou wilt not cease to discover deceit on their part, except in a few of them.
But forgive them, and pass it over:…”
There's two important things to note here:
first, while "children
of Israel"
applies to Jews, it applies to
Palestinians as well, who are also descended
from Israelites. Then, we have
this…
Sura 5:51;
O believers! take not the Jews or Christians as friends.
They are but one another's friends.
If anyone of you taketh them for his friends, he surely is
one of them!"
While Sura 5:51
appears to describe the way many Christians side with Jews
in the Holy Land today, when it was originally spoken it
referred to events of
Muhammad's time. It’s meant neither eternally or globally.
Otherwise, passages
you read four pages earlier under the heading “The Qur’an Supports Interfaith
Peace” make
no sense. However, there’s no contradiction if the negative passages
are directed at the actions of a specific group of Jews at a
specific time and
location. Once the Jewish tribes were exiled from Medina and
Mecca, they'd look
for allies to oppose the spread of the nation/religion that
exiled them. Christians
(i.e., the Byzantine Empire) were likewise seeking allies to
oppose the spread of a
competing religion. The negative passages primarily apply to
the political situation
of that era, even if they appear to fit what's going on
today, too.
Next, two prophecies that appear deadly to Jews--and are deadly the way
they're taught to Muslims. In
both, “Isã”, the Arabic
equivalent of “Jesus”,
has just defeated the “Dajjãl”
(“the Antichrist”) and an allied Jewish army
in the West Bank. Here they are…
Sunan Ibn-I-Majah p.384 #4077;
…Thus Allãh would
defeat the Jews
and there would
be left nothing that Allãh has created
with which a Jew would hide himself but Allãh would make that thing speak:
neither a stone,
nor a tree, neither a wall nor a beast
but a gharqad) (a thorny tree).
So it is one of
their (Jews’ tree)
-and would not pronounce (the presence of a Jew), but it would pronounce:
'O Muslim
servant of Allah, this is a Jew. Come and kill him."
Here's another… Sahih Muslim Chapter MCCV p.1510m #6981-85;
The Jews will be
deflated with the help of Allah.
There will be no
place for them to hide;
they will not be
able to hide behind any stone, wall, animal or tree
– except the
boxthorn (al-Gharqarah) - without saying,
'O Muslim
servant of Allah! here is a Jew, come and kill him!"
These, together
with other hadiths, are taught in a literal sense to mean killing
and/or expelling all Jews in the
Holy Land. When mass numbers of people have
their minds patterned to believe
this way, peace is impossible. Add together the
hadith in which the Jew Ka`b bin
al-Ashraf is deceived and killed, and it's easy
to see how dangerous these
passages may be if misinterpreted. I'll touch on
this subject in a later article.
Here, we're following the path of the Jewish
exodus from the Holy Land, not
teaching Islamic theology. What's important
to know is that there is a
peaceful path out of this mess and that Jews had a
very good reason to keep moving
north ahead of the advancing Islamic nation.
KHAZARIA
Now, we come to the final leg of the journey of the Jewish tribes from
the
Holy Land north to southern
Russia. The map of Khazaria below graphically
demonstrates why Jews emigrated
to Khazaria when relations with their Arab
neighbors soured. As Islam
spread, the Jewish tribes originally exiled from Medina
would have had to keep on the
move. Many would have traveled north to join with
the large Jewish community in
Babylon. Once Islam moved north to Babylon,
Khazaria was the most logical
place for them to go.
MAP
OF KHAZARIA
The net result of Islam’s rise in
the late 600’s A.D. was that Jews weren’t very
welcome in Mesopotamia anymore. And
here’s where Khazaria comes in. Khazaria
existed from 652 A.D. until 1016 A.D., when Russia conquered
them. In 740 A.D.,
the Khazar king made Judaism the
state religion of Khazaria. This, at
just the
time Jews needed to leave Mesopotamia. If you were a Jew
back then, you could
travel hundreds of miles through dangerous territory to
Europe to face
persecution by Christians or stay at home and face
persecution from Muslims.
Or you could make a much shorter bee-line due North where
you’d be welcome
in Khazaria. Where would you go?
Over the course of the next four centuries,
the Jewish refugees intermixed
with the Khazars, who were
primarily of Turkish descent (i.e., Hittite, but with
a bit of Mongol blood and
whoever else had invaded the region). So, the genetic
gulf between half-brother
Israelites grew and grew. In addition, since many
Samaritans were Canaanites
absorbed into the tribe or people from elsewhere
in Mesopotamia who’d been
transplanted by the Assyrian Empire into Samaria,
it’s no surprise the genetic
connection between Palestinians and Ashkenazi Jews
is so vague and elusive. The point
is, holding Ashkenazi Jews to a standard of
how closely they resemble
Palestinians is asking the wrong question and applying
an unfair measure. We know the
Romans did what they did. The defeated Jewish
Israelite tribes had to go
somewhere. Certainly, they didn’t flee to Rome.
With the rise of Islam, common
sense tells us where many would go—i.e., Khazaria.
The following three prophecies
all refer to returning Ashkenazi Jew Israelites…
Jeremiah 23:5-8;
5 "The days are coming," declares
the LORD,…
6 …Judah will be saved and Israel will
live in safety. …
7 "So then, the days are coming,"
declares the LORD,
"when people will no longer say,
`As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites up out of Egypt,'
8 but they will say, `As surely as the LORD
lives,
who brought the descendants of Israel up out of the land of
the north
and out of all the countries where he had banished them.'
Then they will live in their own land."
The "land of the north"? In the
Bible, that phrase is used to describe the
Assyrian Empire,
whose territory included southern portions of what later
became known as
“Khazaria”. The following prophecy is a near duplicate…
Jeremiah 16:14-15;
14 "However, the days are
coming," declares the LORD,
"when men will no longer say,
`As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites up out of Egypt,'
15 but they will say, `As surely as the LORD lives,
who brought the Israelites up out of the land of the north
and out of all the countries where he had banished them.'
For I will restore them to the land I gave their
forefathers."
The next prophecy refers to the confusion
over Ashkenazi origins and claims
that they’re alien
interlopers posing as Israelites.
Isaiah 49:20-21;
20 The children born during your bereavement will yet say in your hearing,
‘This place is too small for us; give us more space to live
in.’
21 Then you will say in your heart,
‘Who bore me these [Ashkenazi Jews/Khazars]?
I was bereaved and barren; I was exiled and rejected.
Who brought these up?
I was left all alone, but these—where have they come from?’
”
Plenty of Palestinians and their
sympathizers claim Ashkenazi Jews aren't
Israelites. The questions, “’Who bore me these?”, Who
brought these up?”,
and “where
have they come from?” sound like the people today who deny
Ashkenazi Jews’ rights to be in
the Holy Land. They believe Ashkenazi Jews
have no prior history
whatsoever in the Holy Land, and they base that judgment
on the lack of common genetics
with Palestinians. But, as we saw in the previous
chapter, the Israelites are
composed of many peoples, so a direct correspondence
of the genetics of Palestinians
and Ashkenazi Jews is a flawed standard upon which
to make a fair and accurate
judgment. However, it's interesting to note that God
apparently noticed this
confusion.
One last question:
We’ve seen evidence
that the Romans did indeed attack Judea and Galilee and
that people fled. We’ve seen evidence the descendents of
many of these people
made their way north to Khazaria. But, we still haven’t received
proof that not all
Israelites were Abraham’s physical descendents, which is
necessary to explain
the genetic gulf separating the two groups. Following are
examples of accounts
which prove Canaanites remained in the land (mostly in the
proximity of the tribal
lands of Ephraim and Manasseh, later called “Samaria”).
There’s also proof that
outsiders from other parts of Mesopotamia were imported into
Samaria by the
Assyrian Empire. These peoples remained to become part of
the mixed population
that the Bible calls, “Samaritans”, and which 2000 years
later we call “Palestinian”.
First, a commandment from Deuteronomy:
Deuteronomy 23:7-8;
7 Do not abhor an Edomite, for he is your
brother.
Do not abhor an Egyptian, because you lived as an alien in
his country.
8 The third generation of children born to
them
may enter the assembly of the LORD.”
Egyptians were
permitted into the assembly of Israelites.
In the following
account from Joshua, “Gibeon” and the other cities mentioned
were located in the far northwest of Benjamin’s allotment
(in the central region of
Canaan, which also included Jerusalem). The Hivites’ cities
lay next to Ephraim’s
southern border, which at times overlapped and included some
of these cities.
Joshua 9:3, 6, 17-18, 26-27;
3 …the people
of Gibeon [Hivites/Canaanites]…6…went to
Joshua…and said…
"We have come from a
distant country; make a treaty with us."
16 Three days after they made the treaty
with the Gibeonites,
the Israelites heard that they were neighbors, living
near them.
17 So the Israelites set out and on the
third day came to their cities:
Gibeon, Kephirah, Beeroth and Kiriath Jearim.
18 But the Israelites did not attack them,
because the leaders of the assembly had sworn an oath to
them…
26 So Joshua saved them from the Israelites, and they did not kill them.
27 …he made the Gibeonites woodcutters and water carriers for the community
and for the altar of the LORD…And that is what they are
to this day.”
Joshua 17:11-13
11 Within Issachar and Asher, Manasseh
also had Beth Shan, Ibleam
and the people of Dor, Endor, Taanach and Megiddo,
together with their surrounding settlements…”
12 Yet the Manassites were not able to occupy these towns,
for the Canaanites were determined to live in that
region.
13 However, when the Israelites grew stronger, they subjected
the Canaanites to forced labor but did not drive them out
completely.”
If the Manassites were unable to
drive out the inhabitants, the inhabitants
must have been numerous. Those preceding two passages prove Canaanites
remained in the land, The next passage proves other peoples unrelated to
Abraham
were also part of the population mix that later became known as
“Palestinians”:
2 Kings 17:23-24;
24 The king of Assyria brought people from Babylon,
Cuthah, Avva, Hamath and Sepharvaim
and settled them in the towns of Samaria to replace the Israelites.
They took over Samaria and lived in its towns."
So many foreigners were present in what was
formerly the northern kingdom,
“Israel”,
that the northernmost district became known as “Galilee of the Gentiles”.
Isaiah 9:1;
Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in
distress.
In the past he humbled the land of
Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,
but in the future he will honor
Galilee of the Gentiles,…”
That’s enough proof Israelites weren’t a
genetically “pure” population where
everyone was
physically descended from Abraham. Now that we know this,
we need proof that
the Jewish tribes that were later evicted by the Romans
had remained
separate from their neighbors, both within Canaan and outside it.
Proof
the Jews of Judea remained apart from their neighbors
A much misunderstood passage in
Deuteronomy lies at the root of this…
Deuteronomy 6:14,
7:1-
6:14 Do not
follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you;
7:1 When…God
brings you into the land you are entering to possess…
3 Do not
intermarry with them [the inhabitants].
Do not give your daughters to
their sons
or take their daughters for
your sons,
4 for they
will turn your sons away from following me to serve other gods,…”
Jews
were commanded not to intermarry with their neighbors. Why? Is God
racist? Or was it something else? At the time
this commandment was given to the
Israelites, the worship of “other gods” of
that region entailed human sacrifice.
To “serve other gods” included the practice
of ritual cannibalism. When the
Israelites turned to worship of other gods,
you find numerous mentions of this.
I won’t print them out here—this book is long
enough already. Instead, here’s
some passages anyone can research on their
own: Psalms 16:4, 106:35-39,
Jeremiah 3:6-10,
Ezekiel 20:21-31, 23:36-39. The
injunction against marrying
outside the tribe had nothing to do with
genetics or race. It had to do with
horrible cultural practices the neighboring
societies engaged in. The following
account from the book of Numbers proves the
injunction in Deuteronomy 7 isn’t
about racism. Here’s the account where God
allegorically spits in racists’ faces…
Numbers 12:1-14;
1 Miriam and Aaron began to talk against
Moses
because of his Cushite wife, for he had married a Cushite
[ “Cush” is the Bible name for what we today call
“Sudan”.
Moses had intermarried outside the tribe with an African woman.
What did God think of this? ].
2 "Has the LORD spoken only through
Moses?" they asked.
"Hasn't he also spoken through us?"
And the LORD heard this.
3 (Now Moses was a very humble man,
more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.)
4 At once the LORD said to Moses, Aaron and Miriam,
"Come out to the Tent of Meeting, all three of
you."
So the three of them came out.”
Numbers 12:1-14;
5 Then the LORD came down in a pillar of
cloud;
he stood at the entrance to the Tent and summoned Aaron
and Miriam.
When both of them stepped forward, 6 he said,
"Listen to my words: "When a prophet of the LORD
is among you,
I reveal myself to him in visions, I speak to him in dreams.
7 But this is not true of my servant Moses; he is faithful in all my house.
8 With him I speak face to face, clearly
and not in riddles;
he sees the form of the LORD.
Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant
Moses?"
9 The anger of the LORD burned against
them, and he left them.
10 When the cloud lifted from above the
Tent,
there stood Miriam—leprous, like snow.
Aaron turned toward her and saw that she had leprosy;
11 and he said to Moses,
"Please,
my lord, do not hold against us the sin we have so foolishly
committed.
12 Do not let her be like a stillborn infant coming from its
mother's
womb with its flesh half eaten away."
13 So Moses cried out to the LORD,
"O God, please heal her!"
14 The LORD replied to Moses,
"If her father had spit in her face,
would she not have been in disgrace for seven days?
Confine her outside the camp for seven days;
after that she can be brought back."
The
Bible necessarily touches on the issue of racism, because racism is a human
issue we must grow out of. The message of the
Bible concerning racism, however,
is that it disgusts and infuriates God. It
can be very easy to get confused when
God says, “Stay away from those people
because…” People can forget the
“because” and think it’s the people
themselves. Apparently, that mistake was
made by the Jewish tribes. That’s why the
following passages made their way
into the New Testament…
John 4:9-13;
9 The Samaritan
woman said to him [Jesus],
"You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?"
(For Jews do not associate with
Samaritans.)”
As you’ve learned,
Ephraim and Manasseh intermixed with the surrounding
peoples and those the Assyrians imported. The mistake
concerning genetics
and righteousness is evidenced in the next two passages…
Matthew 3:7-9;
7 But when he [John the Baptist] saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees
coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them:…8 Produce
fruit in
keeping with repentance.9 And do not
think you can say to yourselves,
`We have Abraham as our
father.'
I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.”
John 8:33-39;
33 They [some Jews speaking with Jesus] answered him,
"We are Abraham's descendants and have never been
slaves of anyone.
How can you say that we shall be set free?"
39 "Abraham is our father,"
they answered.”
On some level, the mistake concerning race
as opposed to behavior as the
reason for staying
separate appears to have become ingrained in some of
the Jewish tribes.
Perhaps it was because their ancestors had been held in
captivity for over
400 years by Egyptians, and Ephraim and Manasseh and
most of their
neighbors had a degree of Egyptian ancestry. (Remember,
Ephraim and
Manasseh’s father,
Joseph, married an Egyptian (Genesis 41:45).)
In that case, the
mistake becomes much more human and understandable.
Lots of peoples
who’ve been oppressed feel a sense of moral superiority over
the people who
oppressed them. It’s a human error.
Galatians 3:26-29, Paul;
26 You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus,
27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ
have clothed yourselves with Christ [and his teachings].
28 There is neither Jew nor Greek [no racism, no nationalism],
slave nor free, male nor female,
for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
29 If you belong to
Christ, then you are Abraham's seed,
and heirs according to the promise.”
Sura 30:22;
And among His signs are the creation of the heavens and of
the earth,
and your varieties of tongues and color. Herein truly are
signs for all men."
Sura 22:34; And to every people have we appointed rites,
that they may commemorate the name of God…"
One final note:
Wherever the Jewish tribes fled, their descendents only have
a legitimate claim to the share of the Holy Land belonging
to Judah, not Ephraim.
The Ashkenazi share of the Holy Land is only in the half
granted to the “Jewish”
side of the Israelites, not the Palestinian part.
CLOSING
I’ll
close by first thanking God, who directed me to this knowledge and what to
do with it. I also thank all the wonderful,
kind-hearted people who’ve assisted
in this endeavor. I pray our efforts will
help others enjoy the fruits of peace.
I also pray the spirit of peace
compels readers to share this peace plan with
others.
That’s how the word spreads and change happens. Pass it on!
We’re planning a
peace conference in Jerusalem in 2012. If you’d like more
information or to contact us regarding the peace plan,
please send an e-mail
.
Psalm 122:6-9,
David;
6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
"May those who love you be secure.
7 May there be peace within your walls and security within your
citadels."
8 For the sake of my brothers and friends, I will say,
"Peace be within you."
9 For the sake of the house of the LORD our God,
I will seek your prosperity."
PEACE.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The
HOLY BIBLE
NEW
INTERNATIONAL VERSION
Copyright 1984 by
International Bible Society
Zondervan Bible Publishers,
Grand Rapids, Michigan
The
HOLY BIBLE
[King James Version]
The World Publishing
Company, Cleveland, Ohio
The
New American Bible
[Catholic]
World Bible Publishers,
Inc., Copyright 1987
New
World Translation of the Holy Scriptures
Watchtower Bible and Tract
Society of Pennsylvania
and International Bible
Students Association, Inc.
The
Jewish Study Bible
tanakh
Translation
Jewish Publication Society,
Oxford University Press
THE
TORAH
THE
FIVE BOOKS OF MOSES
The Jewish Publication
Society of America, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
THE
KORAN
Based on Translation by
J.M.Rodwell
Ivy Books Published by Ballantine Books, New York, New
York
THE
KORAN
M. Pickthall, Translator
Alfred A Knopf, New
York Original copyright 1909 —
Everyman’s Library
The
Qur’an
Translated by M.H.Shakir.
Published by Tahrike Tarsile
Qur’an, Inc., Elmhurst, New York
Sunan
Ibn-i-Majah
Translated by Muhammad
Tufail Ansari
Published by Lahooti Fine Art Press, New Delhi, India
The
Translation of the Meanings of Sahih Al-Bukhâri Arabic-English
Translated by Dr. Muhammad
Muhsin Khan
Darussalam Publishers and
Distributors, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
BIBLIOGRAPHY, cont.;
Holman
Bible Atlas
Broadman & Holman
Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee
The
NIV Study Bible - Basic Library ( On CD ROM )
by Zondervan Publishing
House which contains the NIV NAVE’S TOPICAL BIBLE
One Last Thing
Nowhere is it recorded that Moses got paid for the Ten Commandments.
Matthew 10:8, Jesus;
…Freely you have
received, freely give."
Sura 6:91, Muhammmad;
…No pay do I ask of you for this.
Verily it is no other than the teaching for all creatures."
Since this work would have little impact without the specific basis for
a
peaceful solution being written
into the sacred books cited here, I think
it’s fair to say all real credit
for this book should go to the One responsible
for the scriptures in the first
place, not myself for my efforts. Some might
put it as, “All glory goes to
God”. I do.
If anyone ever reprints this for profit, God had better get a righteous
share to distribute to resettling
people in the Holy Land and helping the
poor elsewhere whenever possible.
Direct
comments or questions to Robert Leon Mendelson
