The Word Jew
Biblical Unmentionables
The word Jew came about 1300 years after the exploits of Moses.
Everyone knows that Moses received the 10 commandments containing "Thou
shall not kill?" But who has heard it mentioned that he had no kill
problems with the people who went against him or criticized him or
questioned his decisions or even said things he didn't want to hear.
Thousands of Israelites never lived to cross the Jordan River because
they had first crossed Moses. When some of his men mingled with a few of
the Midianite ladies, Moses sent in his armies to wipe out the
Midianites. Make war, not love! could have been his motto. After killing
all the men the troops came back with the bounty of their victory along
with the women and children. How did Moses greet his victorious troops?
He was angry. "Why have you allowed the women and children to live?" he
yelled and commanded that they all be killed.
Genocidal Moses and Joshua
These aspects of Moses are rarely mentioned. I've just quoted from Num
31. After you've read that keep on reading. You'll come to the part
where Moses gives his last instructions to Joshua. Moses never crosses
the Jordan, but before he dies he tells Joshua to kill everyone on the
other side, wipe them out "so that not even their name survives."
Joshua follows his master's orders. After listing kingdom after kingdom
that was put to the sword and totally destroyed Joshua 10:40 summarizes:
"So Joshua subdued the whole region ... He left no survivors. He totally
destroyed all who breathed, just as the Lord, the God of Israel, had
commanded."
That was the start of Joshua's campaign.
Rule:
When speaking of Joshua, stick to the tumbling walls of Jericho. When
referring to Moses, anything from the time he was a baby in a basket to
his receiving the stone tablet will do. Consider everything else
unmentionable.
The First Split
Word of Joshua's deeds spread and resistance mounted. It took a few
hundred years to subdue the entire region. Around 1000 years
before Jesus' grandmother was to give birth to Mary, Saul established
the kingdom of Israel. David consolidated the kingdom and his son
Solomon destroyed it.
Solomon (a contemporary of Homer) paid his scribes well to describe him
as a wise man, but history has an opposing opinion. Solomon taxed the
people into poverty and spread dissention. His greed for luxury crippled
the country. How's 300 wives and 600 concubines for family values? It's
nearly unmentionable.
The Kingdom of Israel never survived Solomon. He caused the worse damage
a ruler can inflict on a country. He divided it. Directly upon his death
his son completed his father's work and the kingdom split into Judea and
Israel. That was the first crack in a kingdom in decline. It was only a
matter of time before conquering forces would prey on the pieces.
The Descendents of Moses
The Kingdom of Israel spread ambassadors, merchants, artisans, travelers
and adventures throughout the Mediterranean area. After the kingdom
divided, people emigrated to escape hard times and internal conflicts.
Many joined the armies of Alexander. Thousands fled under the pressures
of invading armies; the Assyrians who
conquered Israel in 722 and the Babylonians who did likewise to Judea in
587. By the time the Romans
destroyed Jerusalem, 90% of descendents of Moses original invaders were
living outside of what was left of the Kingdom of Israel.
The 10% who still lived in what had been Israel were divided into areas,
groups and fractions throughout the country. They had been fighting each
other off and on for centuries; at times directly, at times in the
service of foreign forces. The upper levels of society were infested
with corruption in an atmosphere of decadence. Everyone, whether living
in Rome or Alexandria, whether Samarian or Galilean, whether poor or
wealthy, claimed to be a chosen person, a descendent of the armies of
Moses, an Israelite.
God is! For everyone.
By the time Jesus came on the scene it was obvious that God couldn't be
on the side of all the people fighting each other. Jesus represented a
movement that had a core of active members who were aided by supporters
and supported by sympathizers and encouraged by admirers. This movement
born in opposition to the decadence around them and the constant strife
between people - all claiming to be chosen - was based on the conclusion
that God had no chosen people, but was for everyone. The Bible
summarized it in Jesus' words, "God is." Period.
This movement promoted a spiritual revolution that manifested itself as
a powerful social force. The Bible tells it beautifully. When the Roman
Empire was at its mightiest, a child was born under the simplest of
circumstances. It would carry a truth that would topple an empire. We
are all equal in the eyes of God. Have mercy!
The Romans enslaved, wiped out or ran out just about all of the small
proportion of the Mosaic people (mostly Judeans who they called Jews)
living in the area dominated by Jerusalem. The rest lived mostly in the
costal cities around the Mediterranean Sea. They were the people of the
Mosaic culture embedded in the Hellenistic culture of the Roman Empire.
At this time, the word Jew (Judean) was used a as derogatory term by the
Romans. The other Mosaic people living in the eastern Mediterranean
area, whether in Idumea/Edom, Moab, Samaria, Amathus and the other
districts, as well as the people spread throughout the Roman empire,
didn't think of themselves as Jews but as members of
the Israeli nation, the descendents of the armies/tribes who had followed
Moses out of Egypt and took possession of Palestine, Canaan's land.
The Great Split
The Mosaic culture split decisively 2000 years ago. Those who evolved
their spirituality and transcended their traditions became known as
Christians. Those who remained rooted in the Mosaic tradition solidified
their spirituality and became known as Jews.
To be Mosaic in the Roman Empire before Jesus, meant to be respected and
even admired. This was an interesting religion among many religions.
When Christianity captured the souls of the people, the Mosaics who
clung fundamentally to old traditions, and became known as Jews, no
longer represented a curious religion among many religions, but a single
tiny religion in the sea of Christianity. It became the religion of
those who denied Jesus, those who denied that God is for everyone.
Both Jews and Christians are the continuation of the Mosaic tradition.
The Jews regard themselves as the only descendents of the Mosaic culture
because they viewed those who transcended the traditions as leaving the
traditions. They used the word Christian to express contempt for their
ideological antagonists who referred to themselves as the New Israel.
The Jews scorned the idea that a christ (an anointed one) could claim
that the God of Israel would abandon his chosen people. "Christian"
rolled off their tongues then the way "Nigger" tumbles from the mouths
of racists today. The Christians used the word Jew, a Roman term of
contempt, in an equivalent way. The Christians included The Book of
Moses along with their evangelist texts to form the Bible in order to
stress their Mosaic heritage.
Many of the struggles between these opposing groups extended beyond
ideological debates. Swords were drawn and bloodied. This great split
was violently antagonistic. That antagonism still festers. Cries for
tolerance work as long as people can afford it. When times get tough and
scapegoats are needed, tolerance transforms into its opposite. History
shows no exceptions.
Universal Spiritual Revolution
Christianity evolved from the Mosaic culture and merged with the
Hellenistic culture of the Roman Empire. Hellenism contained many Gods,
but no favorite people. The Mosaic culture had but one God who favored
one people. Take the one god concept and blend it with the no favorite
perspective and you get Christianity.
Christianity however, as a concept of universal equality, was part of a
general development of human spirituality that began some 500 years
earlier with Buddhism and was completed 600 years later with Islam.
It is the same concept that was formalized in 1948 in The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights which starts: "All human beings are born
free and equal in dignity and rights."
One group representing 0,02% of the world population claims to be of
higher dignity than everyone else, God's
favorite people.
We all learned very early in school that the teacher's favorite had few friends.
Anyone falsely claiming to be the teacher's favorite attracted the attention of the bullies.
© Joel Miller/BenTarZ
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