Two Thousand Years of Jewish Persecution

Two thousand years of Jewish 

persecution

  

The meaning that the persecutions of 

the Jews pose to Christianity today.

                                                                                                                         Stes de Necker

 1. The persecution of the Jews since the crucifixion of Jesus

The Gospel of Jesus (His life on earth), is strictly speaking a piece of Old Testament history! The Old Covenant (Testament) ends ("finished") only when Jesus blew out His last breathe on the cross of Calvary. Immediately afterwards, the New Covenant (Testament) began.

When Jesus therefore said in His prophetic discourse on the Mount of Olives: "I assure you: Even in this generation will all this happen" (Matt. 24: 34), this prophecy was in fact an allusion to the New Covenant.  

Seventy years after Christ's crucifixion, the Roman army destroyed the Temple of the Jews in Jerusalem, just as Jesus foretold (Matt. 24: 2), and the persecution of the Jews, under the New Covenant, began.

70 AD The Roman army destroyed Jerusalem, killed more than a million Jews, imprisoned nearly 100,000 and exiled many Jews as slaves to other parts of the Roman Empire. 

115-117: Jews in Cyprus, Siren Egypt and parts of Mesopotamia revolted against the Roman dictatorship in what is known as the Kitos war. However, Roman soldiers suppressed the revolt, but hundreds of thousands of Jews lost their lives.

132: Bar Kochba led a failed uprising against the Roman Empire. Nearly half a million Jews died in the uprising and thousands captured as slaves. Judaism was no longer recognized as a legitimate religion.

135: The actual persecution of the Jews by Rome began. Circumcision was prohibited, as was the reading of the Torah. A temple in honour of the Roman god Jupiter was erected on the temple hill in Jerusalem, and a temple erected in honour of Venus on mount Calvary.

200: Emperor Severus of Rome prohibits the adoption of the Jewish faith.

306: The Synod of Elvira banned sex, marriage and social contact between Christians and Jews.

315: Emperor Constantine published the Edict of Milan and Jews were denied many rights and benefits. Jews were no longer allowed to live in Jerusalem, and were forbidden to persuade anyone to adopt the Jewish faith. All Jewish missions were prohibited.

325: The Synod of Nicea decided to separate the celebration of Easter from the Jewish Passover. The decision, said the synod: "For it is unbecoming beyond measure that on this holiest of festivals we should follow the customs of the Jews. Henceforth let us have nothing in common with this Odious people ... We ought not, therefore, to have anything in common with the Jews ... our worship follows a ... more convenient course ... we desire dearest brethren, to separate ourselves from the detestable company of the Jews ... how, then, could we follow the prosthesis of the Jews, who are almost certainly blinded. "

337: Roman Emperor Constantine issued a law which made marriages between Jews and Christians punishable by death.

339: Adoption of the Jewish faith was declared a criminal offense.

343-381: The Synod of Laodicea made the following decision: "It is not Lawful [for Christians] to receive unleavened bread from the Jews, nor to be partakers of their impiety."

367-376: St. Hilary of Pontiefers refers to Jews as a ‘perverse people’ who was forever cursed by God. In same time St. Ephroem referred to the Jewish synagogues as brothels.

379-395: Emperor Theodosius the Great of Rome approves the destruction of Jewish synagogues for religious reasons.

380: The Bishop of Milan, who was responsible for the burning of the synagogues, referring to his actions as: "an act pleasing to God."

415: The Bishop of Alexandria, St. Cyril, banned Jews from Alexandria and in the same year St. Augustine declared: "The true image of the Hebrew is Judas Iscariot, who sells the Lord for silver. The Jew can never understand the Scriptures and forever will bear the guilt for the death of Jesus."  

418: St. Jerome, the Catholic translation of the Bible (Vulgate) writes about the Jewish synagogues the following: "If you call it a Brothel, a den or vice, the Devil's refuge, Satan's fortress, a place to deprave the soul, an Abyss of every conceivable disaster or whatever you will, you are still saying less than it deserves. "

489-519: Christian mobs destroyed the synagogues in Antioch Daphne (near Antioch) and Ravanna.

528: Emperor Justin issued the Justinian code. This code prohibits the construction of synagogues, reading the Bible in Hebrew, gathering of Jews in public places and celebrating Easter at the time that Jews normally celebrated Easter. Jews are not allowed to testify against a Christian in a court.

535: The synod of Claremont declared: “Jews could not hold public office or have authority over Christians."

538: The third and fourth Councils of Orleans prohibited Jews to appear during Easter in public ("From the Thursday before Easter for four days, Jews may not appear in the company of Christians.") Marriages between Jews and Christians are forbidden and Christians are forbidden to adopt the Jewish faith.

561: The bishop of Uzis banned Jews from his church (Diocese) in France.

612: Jews are forbidden to own land or to farm. Certain occupations are forbidden to the Jews.

613: Jews in Spain were banned from the country unless they are willing to switch to Christianity. Jewish children older than six years were forcibly removed from their parents and brought up in the Christian faith.

692: The Board of Quinisext decided that: "Let no one in the Priestly order nor ANY Layman eat the unleavened bread of the Jews, nor have ANY familiar intercourse with them, nor Summon them in Illness, nor Receive Medicines from them, nor bathe with them; but if anyone shall tasks in hand to do so, if he is a Cleric, let him be deposed, but if a Layman, let him be cut off."

694: Jews are regarded as the servants of the prince.

722: Leo III banned Judaism and Jews baptized against their will in the Christian faith.

855: Jews were expelled from Italy.

1010: The Bishop of Limoges, France, allows Jews who do not convert to Christianity, expelled or to kill.

1050: The Synod of Narbonne prohibited Christians living in homes of Jews.

1078: Pope Gregory VII prohibits Jews from positions of authority over Christians.

1078: The Synod of Gerona forced Jews to pay church tax to the Catholic Church.

1096: The Crusades began and although the intention was to liberate Jerusalem from Muslims, the Jews, the secondary target. "Christ-killers, embrace the Cross or die!" the familiar cry. 12,000 Jews were killed in the first crusade in the Rhine Valley. The killings continued until the ninth crusade in 1272.

1099: Jews were forced by the crusaders in a synagogue and burned along with the synagogue.

1130: In London, the Jews were accused of the death of a patient and were forced to pay one million German marks to the city as compensation.

1146: The second series of crusades began and the French monk Rudolf, demand the destruction of all Jews in Europe.

1179: The Third Lateran Council declared: "Jews should be slaves to Christians, and at the same time treated kindly due only to humanitarian considerations." ..."The Testimony of Christians against Jews is to be preferred in all Causes where use their own witnesses against Christians."

1180: The French king, Philip Augustus, seized all Jewish property and banned the Jews from France.

1189: Jews are persecuted in England. The King of England seized all Jewish property and most of the Jews' houses are burned.

1205: Pope Innocent III wrote to the Archbishops of Sans and Paris that: "the Jews, at their own guilt, are consigned to perpetual servitude because they crucified the Lord. As Slaves, rejected by God, in whose death they wickedly conspire, they shall by the effect of this very action, recognize themselves as the slaves of those whom Christ's death set free ... "

1215: The Fourth Lateran Council adopted a law requiring all Jews and Muslims to wear special clothing. They also had to wear a circular badge to distinguish themselves from Christians.

1227: The Synod of Narbonne required that Jews wear an oval badge.

1229: The Spanish Inquisition began in 1252. Pope Innocent IV approved that ‘inkwisiteurs’ may use torture to obtain information.

1236: Pope Gregory ordered church leaders in England, France, Portugal and Spain to confiscate all Jewish books.

1259: The Synod of Mainz ordered all Jews to wear yellow badges.

1261: The Count of Brabant, Henry III said in his will: "Jews ... must be expelled from Brabant and totally annihilated so that not a single one remains, EXCEPT Those who are willing to trade, like all other tradesmen, without money lending and usury.”

1267: The Synod of Vienna ordered Jews to wear “Horned hats". 

1290: Jews were expelled from England. Approximately 16,000 Jews left the country.

1298: Persecution of Jews in Austria, Bavaria and France continued. 140 Jewish communities were destroyed and more than 100,000 Jews were killed over a period of six months.  

1306: Jews expelled from France. 100,000 Jews left the country with only the clothes on their bodies and only enough food for one day.

1320: 40,000 French marched on Palestine in the so-called "Sheppard Crusade". On the road about 140 Jewish communities were destroyed.

1320: In Guinea France the Jews were accused of being responsible for the poisoning of wells and 5,000 Jews died at the stake.

1347: The Black Plague broke out in the Far East, and spread quickly to Europe. In five years the death rate has 25 million people. When it was established that fewer Jews die of the pestilence, (mainly because of their diet and sanitary habits) the Jews were accused of being protected by Satan. The solution was to kill the Jews. Bavaria killed 12,000 Jews; the village Efrut ... 3000; in Rue Brufïe ... 2000; Strausburg ... 2,000; Mainz ... 6,000 and in Worms ... 400.

1354: 12,000 Jews were executed in Toledo.

1374: Jews are accused of the epidemic that broke out in 1374 in the Netherlands and Germany and tens of thousands of Jews were tortured and executed.

1391: The persecution of Jews began in Seville, Spain. 70 Jewish communities in this country were completely destroyed.

1394: Jews are expelled from France for the second time.

1431: The Council of Basel decided that: "forbid Jews to go to universities, prohibit them from acting as agents in the conclusion of contracts between Christians, and require that they attend Christian church sermons."

1434: Jewish men in Augsburg are required to wear yellow buttons on their clothes, to work and throughout Europe, Jews were obliged to wear long underwear and coats.

1453: The Franciscan monk Capistrano, persuade the king of Poland to lift all human rights from Jews.

1492: In Spain, Jews were given the choice to either be baptized as Christians or to be expelled from Spain. 300,000 Jews left Spain without any money or belongings.

1497: Jews were expelled from Portugal. 20,000 left the country.

1523: Martin Luther wrote his article "That Jesus Was Born a Jew." and expressed the hope that large numbers of Jews converted to Christianity. The Jews responded as he had hoped for and Luther began a campaign of hatred against the Jews.

1540: Jews were expelled from Naples.

1543: Disappointed in the Jews' refusal to convert to Christianity,

Luther started a hatred campaign against the Jews. In a letter to Spalatin the priest, he wrote:

"I have come to the Conclusion that the Jews will always curse and blaspheme God and his King Christ, as all the Prophets have predicted .... “

In 1543, Luther wrote in his book: "On the Jews and their loss, On Shem Hamphoras",  ‘... eject them forever from this country. For, as we have heard, God's anger with them has been so intense that gentle mercy will only permeable to make them worse and worse, while sharpened  mercy will reform them but little. Therefore, in any case, away with them! ... What then shall we Christians do with this damned, rejected race or Jews?’

First, their synagogues or churches should be set on fire,  

Secondly, their homes should likewise be broken down and destroyed ... They ought to be put in stables, like Gypsies.

Thirdly, they should be deprived of their prayer books and Talmuds in which idolatry, lies, cursing and Blasphemy are taught.

Fourthly, their Rabbis must be forbidden under threat of death to teach any more.

Fifthly, passport and travelling privileges should be absolutely forbidden to the Jews.

Sixthly, they ought to be stopped from usury. All their cash and valuables of silver and gold ought to be taken from them and put aside for safe keeping.

Seventhly, let the young and strong Jews and Jewesses be given the flail, the axe, the hoe, the spade, the distaff and spindle and let them earn their bread by the sweat of their noses as was enjoined upon Adam's children.

To sum up, dear princes and nobles who have Jews in your domains, if this advice of mine does not suit you, then find a better one so that u and we will all be free of this insufferable devilish burden - the Jews. "

1550: Jews are banned from Vienna.

1555: In Rome Jews were forced to live in ghettos and forced to wear badges. Jews were not allowed to own property outside the ghetto. 3,000 Jews were forced to live in an area of ​​approximately 8 acres.

1582: Jews are banned from Holland.

1648-1649: Chmielnicki Bogdan leads an uprising against Polish rule in the Ukraine. His second goal was to wipe out all Jews in the country. Nearly 100,000 Jews and a total of 300 Jewish communities were destroyed.

1873: The term "anti-Semitism" (anti-Semitism) was use for the first time in a publication of Wilhelm Marr (League or Anti-Semites) called "Der Sieg des Judenthums über das Germanenthum von nicht confessionellen Standpunkt"

1881: The Jews were blamed for the assassination of Alexander II of Russia. Approximately 200 individual raids followed aimed against Jews and thousands of Jews were impoverished and were left homeless.

1893: Anti-Semitic parties won sixteen seats in the German parliament (Reichstag)

1903: During Passover, the Jews blamed for the death of a Christian girl and the suicide of a young woman in a Jewish hospital. In the uprising that followed, 49 Jews were killed, 500 injured, 700 houses destroyed, 600 businesses destroyed and 2,000 Jewish families were left homeless.

1915: 600,000 Jews were forced to shift from the western border of Russia to the Russian interior. 100,000 died from exhaustion and exposure.

1917: In the civil war following the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, the reactionary White Armies made extensive use of the Protocols to incite widespread slaughters of Jews.  200,000 Jews were killed in the Ukraine.

1920: The Germans blamed the Jews for the fact that they lost World War I.

1925: Hitler publishes his book "Mein Kampf" and writes: "Today I believe that I am acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator: Defending myself against the Jew, I am fighting for the work of the Lord." Charles E Cloughlin of the Catholic Church in the United States declared that Hitler's actions against the Jews is justified in the fight against Communism.

1933: Adolf Hitler came to power. Two years later, Jews are no longer recognized as German citizens. Jews were banned from jobs in the public service, legal professions and universities.  Jews were not allowed to qualify as teachers and were forbidden to be editors of any newspapers.

1934: A wide variety of laws are passed to force Jews from schools and professional careers.

1935: The Nuremberg Laws are adopted that limit citizenship to "German or related blood." Jews are left stateless.

1936: Cardinal Hloud of Poland called for the boycott of all Jewish businesses.

1938: On November 9, Hitler sends storm troopers, the German SS and the Hitler Youth in a raid of Jewish businesses. 91 Jews were killed, 177 synagogues were burned, 7,500 Jewish businesses destroyed. This raid would later be known as the Night of Broken Glass. (Kristallnacht)

1938: Hitler ordered every Jew to wear yellow "Star of David", as a badge.

1939: The destruction of the Jews (Holocaust) started. By 1945, the end of World War II, nearly 6 million Jews, including 1.5 million children, was murdered by the Germans. Jews in the death camps of Auschwitz, Dachau, Sobibor, Treblinka and other were killed with cyanide gas, while others were killed in trucks filled with carbon monoxide to suffocate.

1940: The Vichy government of France, together with the German Nazis, frozen approximately 80,000 Jewish bank accounts. Over the next four years France deported nearly 76,000 Jews to the German death camps. Jacques Chirac of France declared in 1995 that: "... the state bore a heavy share of responsibility in the mass round-ups and deportations of Jews, as well as in the property and asset seizures that were carried out with the active help of the Vichy regime. "

1941: 13,000 Jews died in Bucharest Romania by order of the pro-Nazi government of Antonescu.

1946: Although World War II came to an end in 1945, the murdering of Jews, especially in Poland, still continued.

Statistics: Jews that died in the Holocaust of World War II

Country	Initial number of Jews residing in that Country	Estimated percentage Jews killed	Number killed	Number of survivors
Poland	3,300,000	91%	3,000,000	300,000
Russia	3,020,000	36%	1,100,000	1,920,000
Hungary	800,000	74%	596,000	204,000
Germany	566,000	36	200,000	366,000
France	350,000	22%	77,320	272,680
Romania	342,000	84%	287,000	55,000
Austria	185,000	35%	65,000	120,000
Leland	168,000	85%	143,000	25,000
Holland	140,000	71%	100,000	40,000
Moravia	118,310	60%	71,150	47,160
Latvia	95,000	84%	80,000	15,000
Slovakia	88,950	80%	71,000	17,950
Yugoslavia	78,000	81%	63,300	14,700
Greece	77,380	87%	67,000	10,380
Belgium	65,700	45%	28,900	36,800
Italy	44,500	17%	7,680	36,820
Bulgaria	50,000	0%		50,000
Denmark	7,800	.8%	60	7,740
Eastland	4,500	44%	2,000	2,500
Luxemburg	3,500	55%	1,950	1,550
Finland	2,000	.03%	7	1,993
Norway	1,700	45%	762	938
Total	9,508,340	63%	5,962,129	3,546,211

Source: Religious Tolerance.org

                     

                                                               

2. Meaning that the persecution of the Jews have for Christians today.

Since 70 AD each and every phenomenon which Jesus referred in His prophetic discourse on the Mount of Olives, has already happened.

The antichrist already exists since the coming of Jesus Christ!

It even seems that God has long ago totally rejected and abandoned , His chosen people because never in the history of mankind, was there a people who, because of their faith, and over such a long period of time, persecuted, abused and massacred.

Since the year 70 AD there, with the exception of only two centuries (900 -990 AD and 1700-1799 AD), not a single century went by the Jews were not violently persecuted and massacred.

The tragedy of this is that 98% of all these atrocities were committed by so-called Christians! (One can understand why Mahatma Gandhi said that he could easily convert to Christianity, if only it were not for the followers of Christ!)

It is nothing short of a miracle that the Jews are the only people in the world today, since the Old Testament times, which maintain their own identity and still live in the same country that God has given them, almost 3,500 ago!

In Rom.11 Paul asks "Did God not yet cast off His people?" And "Israel's stumbling means their final downfall?" But then in Rom. 11: 25 Paul says: "We are facing a mystery, brothers, and I want you to know what it is, that you will be confident. The hardness of a part of Israel and until the full number of the Gentiles in the kingdom has come in; and in this way all Israel will be saved. "And again in verse 29:" If God once gave people His gifts and they call on Him, He had never come back on His word. "

Paul's message is clear: We (The non-Jews) were rescued due to the hardening that has happened to Israel and, like us, God will save the Jews again. God has not forgotten His chosen people! (Read again Rom. 9: 30 to Rom. 11: 36)

In Zechariah 10: 8 says: ".... Yes, I'm going to save them, and they will be as much as before

Therefore Paul said in Rom. 11: 11 on the question: "Has Israel's stumbling meant their final fall?: "Absolutely not!"

The fact that we are now part of God's covenant is therefore no cause for self-exaltation, but rather a cause for profound gratitude and faith in Jesus Christ.

Anti-Semitism, which rests solely on the basis of faith, should be a matter of grave admonition for every Christian believer. The centuries-old persecution of the Jews should rather be for everyone a lesson of how seriously God is about disobedience and how great is His goodness and grace for us as believers, or so-called non-Jews.

Rom. 2: 1 Paul admonished "... people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth ..." when he tells them: "Therefore, there is no excuse for you, for you, condemn one another, whoever you are." and in verse 3: "... imagine you that you escape the judgment of God?"

For all those who are now so eager to participate in the wave of anti-Semitic  propaganda, in much of the Middle Eastern World, including South Africa, Paul's letter to the believers in Rome, should serve as a very serious warning.

The Jews are still God's chosen people! (But read Rom. 11: 28)

Since our redemption and salvation is simply unmerited grace, we have no right to, to condemn any person on account of his or her faith! We have nothing to boast about.

3. The persecution of the Jews as a precursor to the coming of Jesus

Matt. 24: 14 Jesus said: "And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world, so that all nations can hear the evidence. Only then shall the end come. "

According to estimate of the "World Christian Database" from 1990 to 2000, Christianity (worldwide) grew annually with about 25,210,195. (1.36%), while Judaism only increased with approximately 124.515 (.91%) new followers per year. According to the WCD there was, in the year 2000, an estimated 2 billion Christians worldwide (33% of the world population). It is envisaged that by the year 2025 approximately 33.4% of the world's population (3 billion people), will be Christians. 

Measured against the average global population growth rate of 1.41%, it would appear that Christianity enjoys .05% accession growth, while Judaism, .5%.  This calculation is obviously based on the assumption that children will generally adopt the faith of their parents.

It must be remembered that this conclusion is purely theoretical in nature and does not mean that the decline of Judaism is as a result of a conversion to Christianity! It merely indicates the probability that Christianity still thrives while Judaism is busy to decline.

Religious statistics are among the most unreliable information that exists, mainly due to its sensitivity and subjective nature.

International statistics on religious membership is extremely limited and already insufficient statistics, to try to determine trends, is almost impossible.

According to the Bible Society of England, in the year 2007 there were more than 7.5 billion Bibles distributed worldwide. This figure does not include the many electronic copies of the Bible on our computers, "iPhone" and "Blackberries" available today!

With the world's population currently estimated at 7 billion people, it means that, theoretically, there exist for every person on earth a Bible! (We know that because of inequalities in the distribution of the Bible, there are many people in the world who do not own Bibles)

Matt. 24: 14 Jesus said: "And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world, so that all nations can hear the evidence. Only then shall the end come. "And (before the end)" ... the gospel must first be preached to all nations. "(Mark 13: 10).

So far, The Word of God has been translated into more than 2,000 languages ​​and distributed in more than 97% of all countries in the world!