In the Bible, Antisemites are the bad guys

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In the course of world history, an evil antisemitic agenda repeats over and over again. In our day, professing Christians are often the worst of the worst when it comes to Antisemitism.

 


 

Antisemitism is hostility to, prejudice, or discrimination against the Jewish people. The worst people in the Bible were Antisemites.

In 587 BC, king Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon destroyed the city of Jerusalem and the temple. He deported the tribe of Judah to Babylon.

In the mid-400s BC, Haman the Agagite persuaded the Persian empire to exterminate the entire Jewish people.

In 70 AD, the evil Roman Empire besieged and conquered the city of Jerusalem. They sacked the city, and destroyed the temple.

In the 1930s and 1940s, Adolf Hitler led Germany to kill about six million Jewish people.

In our day, in the United States, some Christians are Antisemites. Other Christians do not denounce them.

 

Nehemiah 3:33. When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became angry and very much incensed. He ridiculed the Jews,

Nehemiah 4:1. But when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, he was angry, and was very indignant, and mocked the Jews.

Esther 3:6. But he scorned the thought of laying hands on Mordecai alone, for they had made known to him Mordecai’s people. Therefore Haman sought to destroy all the Jews who were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus, even Mordecai’s people.

Esther B:6. we instruct you in the letter written by Haman, who is set over the public affairs and is our second governor, to destroy them all utterly with their wives and children by the swords of the enemies, without pitying or sparing any, on the fourteenth day of the twelfth month Adar, of the present year;

Esther 4:7. Mordecai told him of all that had happened to him, and the exact sum of the money that Haman had promised to pay to the king’s treasuries for the destruction of the Jews.

Esther 9:1. Now in the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, on the thirteenth day of the month, when the king’s commandment and his decree came near to be put in execution, on the day that the enemies of the Jews hoped to conquer them, (but it was turned out the opposite happened, that the Jews conquered those who hated them),

Psalm 83:4. “Come,” they say, “let’s destroy them as a nation, that the name of Israel may be remembered no more.”

Psalm 123:3. Have mercy on us, LORD, have mercy on us, for we have endured much contempt.

Daniel 3:12. There are certain Jews whom you have appointed over the affairs of the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men, O king, have not respected you. They don’t serve your gods, and don’t worship the golden image which you have set up.

 

2 Maccabees 7:1. It came to pass that seven brothers and their mother were at the king’s command taken and shamefully handled with scourges and cords, to compel them to taste of the abominable swine’s flesh.

2 Maccabees 8:9. Ptolemy quickly appointed Nicanor the son of Patroclus, one of the king’s chief friends, and sent him, in command of no fewer than twenty thousand of all nations, to destroy the whole race of Judea. With him he joined Gorgias also, a captain and one who had experience in matters of war.

2 Maccabees 9:4. Being overcome by his anger, he planned to make the Jews suffer for the evil deeds of those who had put him to flight. Therefore, with judgment from heaven even now accompanying him, he ordered his charioteer to drive without ceasing until he completed the journey; for he arrogantly said this: “I will make Jerusalem a common graveyard of Jews when I come there.”

2 Maccabees 10:14. But when Gorgias was made governor of the district, he maintained a force of mercenaries, and at every turn kept up war with the Jews.

2 Maccabees 11:2. collected about eighty thousand infantry and all his cavalry and came against the Jews, planing to make the city a home for Greeks,

2 Maccabees 12:2. But some of the governors of districts, Timotheus and Apollonius the son of Gennaeus, and also Hieronymus and Demophon, and beside them Nicanor the governor of Cyprus, would not allow them to enjoy tranquillity and live in peace.

2 Maccabees 12:4. When the Jews, relying on the public vote of the city, accepted the invitation, as men desiring to live in peace and suspecting nothing, they took them out to sea and drowned not less than two hundred of them.

 

3 Maccabees 4:2. The Jews suffered great throes of sorrow and wept much, while their hearts, all things around being lamentable, were set on fire as they bewailed the sudden destruction which was decreed against them.

 

RESOURCES

Three returns from Babylon

 


Unless otherwise noted, all Bible quotations on this page are from the World English Bible and the World Messianic Edition. These translations have no copyright restrictions. They are in the Public Domain.