The History of the Jews 5

The high point in the history of the Jews came at the beginning of the first century AD with the coming of their Messiah. Sadly, the Jews for the most part rejected him, having him crucified, with the help of the Romans, on Golgotha. In 70 AD they came under God's severe judgement when the Romans sacked Jerusalem and the Temple was destroyed. There has been no sacrifice there since and there is not likely to be given that its place is now occupied by a mosque. Since that time the Jews have suffered much injustice and persecution. In 1948 it was a possible to establish a nation state called Israel, where the official language is modern Hebrew, which has been re-established. However, it is a place where a diversity of views exist and where many Arabs live. Further, most Jews live outside Israel and that seems likely to continue to be the position. To the question, has God finished with the Jews? It is important to say that God is still working out his purposes in the lives of individuals and many have become believers. Christians are under an obligation to love Jews (though not more than they love Arabs) and to do what they can to share the gospel with them. It is unlikely that Jews are brighter or more gifted than other peoples, despite what some say. The great thing about the Jews is that it was to them that Messiah was born not to anyone else. Indeed, it is not going too far to say that their very existence was in order that the Messiah may be born in this world. What a privilege! yet it guarantees nothing. They too, like the Gentiles, need to put their faith in Jesus Christ to be saved. As for the idea of a great turning to the Lord among Jews in these last days. I see no promise of it in Scripture but if it happens, glory be to God. Just don't forget the Jews.

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We learn something of the time spent in exile by God's people from the end of Jeremiah, from Ezekiel, Daniel and Esther. It was a strange time for the Jews. They were removed from the Temple and the daily sacrifices there and so had to adapt their religion. Synagogues appear to have developed from this time. They had to get used to using other languages. They began to speak Aramaic (some of which is found in the Bible itself) and the Old Testament was translated into Greek in this period.

In Ezra, Nehemiah, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi we hear something of the amazing return to the Promised Land that the Jews made seventy year later in the time of Cyrus and other Persian kings. When they returned they were greatly humbled and, having seen paganism close up for more than a generation, they were as keen to forsake idolatry as they had ever been. it no longer held the attraction it once did. They settled in Jerusalem and beyond, first building the Temple and then the walls of Jerusalem and slowly re-establishing themselves in the land. The temple was inferior to the one Solomon built but the priests and Levites served faithfully. They had no king but were under the Persians, then the Greeks and then the Romans, with whim they had to learn to co-operate after attempting various levels of resistance. The last of the prophets were Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi. They then had to go four hundred years without true prophets until the coming of the last Old Testament prophet, John the Baptist.

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After the reign of Solomon, the kingdom soon split. We speak traditionally of the ten tribes or Israel and of Judah although things were a little more complicated as Benjamin and many Levites joined Judah and Simeon's towns were always within Judah. Israel's first king was Jeroboam and its last Hoshea. In just over 200 years 19 kings reigned in nine different dynasties. The longest reign was that of Jeroboam II, 40 years, and the shortest that of Zimri, only seven days. The Bible declares everyone of them to have been wicked. The nation came to an end in 722 BC when the Assyrians carried them into exile and replaced them eventually with what became the Samaritans. Idolatry had been prevalent throughout the history of the Jews but in the northern kingdom that idolatry became institutionalised with calf idols at Bethel and Dan.

Meanwhile, in the south there was a succession of 20 kings, some pronounced evil, some good. The good kings were Asa, Jehoshaphat, Uzziah, Jotham, Hezekiah and Josiah. Joash and Amaziah began well but faded. This dynasty also came to an end, this time in around 586 BC with the Babylonian exile. There was much idolatry also in Judah, reaching a height under the fourteenth king, the one who reigned the longest (55 years), Manasseh. It was the idolatry that caused God to formally divorce his people and send them away into exil, where they remained for seventy years.

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By the end of the Book of Judges God's people are desperate to have a king. Sadly, what they desire is a king like the other nations had and that is exactly what God gave them in Saul, who began well but very soon plunged the country into ruin. God revealed his purpose to replace Saul with a man after his own heart, David, but it took a long time and there was much opposition before David of Bethlehem, the prototype of Messiah, came to the throne. Even then there was opposition to his reign not only from outside but also from outside at times. He himself was imperfect and caused several problems.

At the end of his life he is succeeded by Solomon, Israel's greatest king and another prototype of Messiah - full of wisdom and very rich and able to extend the kingdom to its greatest point. He built the amazing Temple which replaced the tent or tabernacle that they used from the time of Moses for meeting with God. He appears to be the author of Song of Songs, Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. Despite his wisdom he fell deep into sin, worshipping the gods of his many wives. He appears to have come back to the Lord before his death. He is both an inspiration and a warning to us all.

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The history of God's chosen people, to whom Messiah would be born, can be divided up into several parts. The pre-history involves the call of Abraham, the birth of Isaac and Jacob or Israel. The Jews are descended from his twelve sons. Their history as a nation really begins with their slavery in Egypt and their tremendous redemption under Moses who led them through the wilderness. It was Joshua, however, who led them into the Promised Land. Moses stands for the Law, which saves no-one. Rather, we need a Joshua (Jesus) for that.

Once they had entered the Promised Land God's people needed to conquer it. It was his purpose that this should be done slowly as the number of Jews was still relatively small. The land was assigned to the different tribes and they worked at destroying the Canaanites who possessed the land. To many today this commanded genocide sounds like the way Europeans took America and Australia by destroying the aboriginal peoples. Much of what went on then is indefensible but as for the Canaanite genocide (carried out rather poorly) two of God's purposes came together at this time - his desire to see his people settled in their own land and to see the Canaanites judged for their utterly wicked way of life.

In this period Israel had no king. They were led by various judges or saviours. All of these saviours were inadequate in one way or another so progress was slow and patchy until their king, David, came to the throne. There were holy people in the time of the Judges (see the Book of Ruth) but many wicked things happened too (see Judges, the closing chapters) when everyone did what was right in their own eyes.

This period teaches us that the Christian life involves fighting to overcome evil in our lives. Complete victory will only come through our King, the Son of David.

The Law

God formed his people while they were down in Egypt suffering as slaves. In his own time he brought them out from Egypt and slavery and brought them in to the wilderness. There he revealed himself to them and gave them his Law. His Law was made up of moral laws as set out in the Ten Commandments, civil laws and ceremonial laws that would set the nation up and give it the parameters God intended, until Messiah should come. The moral laws summed up what was required from God throughout all time. Its importance is that it does three things

1. While showing God’s righteousness the law warns of, informs of, convicts and ultimately condemns each person’s unrighteousness. By nature we can’t see it but the law shows it up.
2. It also acts as a restraint on some, even unbelievers. It acts as a deterrent. It is part of God’s common grace to us.
3. It is a great tool for the believer in understanding God’s character and what he desires from us. It is also a means of exhortation to us to live better lives, more holy and God honouring.

God chose the Jews

It is God's purpose that just as the world was lost by a man, Adam, so it should be saved by a man, a second Adam. It was always God's purpose that the Son of God should come into the earth as a man to save his people. In order to be a man, the Son of God needed a people, an ancestry, a  culture, a set of laws, a language, a country, etc. God began this work by calling a  pagan, a Hebrew speaker called Abram who God instructed to leave Ur and come west to Harran and then Canaan. From Abram who was renamed Abraham came Isaac and then Jacob who became Israel. From him come the Israelites who began down in Egypt and were eventually redeemed from there under Moses. It is uniquely through the Jewish nation that God saved the world. That is one reason why they must always be loved and respected.