Despite the problems that have befallen and continue to befall the Jewish people, we as children of God and relatives of the Jewish people (offspring), must not gloat over their calamity.
In spite of the earthly Temple system being taken away from the Jewish people and their sins no longer being forgiven, we must not take any sort of glee from this fact. Instead, we should try to assist the Jewish people when possible to see their error, in an understanding and gentle way. We are meant to have sympathy for the Jewish people.
As followers of Christ, we have received a promise of land in the Kingdom of Heaven meaning to be part of the Kingdom of Heaven. This will be taken away from us if we adopt a negative view towards the Jewish people.
Edomites – Example 1
An example in the bible that explains this is the Edomites. The Edomites were the descendants of Esau who was the brother of Jacob. God gave the Edomites their own land by driving out the former inhabitants just as He did for the children of Israel and their land.
Joshua 24:4 – and to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. I assigned the hill country of Seir to Esau, but Jacob and his family went down to Egypt.
Deuteronomy 2:12 – Horites used to live in Seir, but the descendants of Esau drove them out. They destroyed the Horites from before them and settled in their place, just as Israel did in the land the Lord gave them as their possession.
Deuteronomy 2:22 – just as He did for the sons of Esau, who live in Seir, when He destroyed the Horites from before them; they dispossessed them and settled in their place even to this day.
The Edomites and the Israelites were meant to respect each other and their given territories and not quarrel.
Deuteronomy 2:4-6 – Give the people these orders: ‘You are about to pass through the territory of your relatives, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. They will be afraid of you, but be very careful. 5 Do not provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of their land, not even enough to put your foot on. I have given Esau the hill country of Seir as his own. 6 You are to pay them in silver for the food you eat and the water you drink.’
This scripture shows that it is God who gives and fulfills all promises and no one can stop Him. The Jewish people should have no fear of anyone taking away their Promised Land. God will uphold all of His promises! Not even the children of Israel in this case could take what God had promised and given to someone else. Likewise, Christians have nothing to fear even from the Jewish people. It is God who establishes all his promises and no one can stop Him!
Even if the Jewish people do not believe in our way of thinking or seeing things. Nor do they believe in the ways and teachings of Jesus. Their actions can in no way, harm us as Christians from receiving the promise that God has given us. The promise of eternal life and becoming part of the Kingdom of Heaven! God has given us a territory (the Kingdom of Heaven), and He will uphold His promises and not allow anyone to take it from us. We have nothing to fear from the Jewish people. On the contrary, the only way we can lose our promise is by hating the Jewish people as we will see below.
And so the children of Israel passed through Edom with no issues. This is because God gave them the right to pass through their territory but not to take any land from them.
Deuteronomy 2:8 – So we went on past our relatives the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. We turned from the Arabah road, which comes up from Elath and Ezion Geber, and traveled along the desert road of Moab.
This is the way that God wishes for the Jew and the Christian to live. There should be no quarreling or condemnation but rather civil interactions, with no abuse of any kind.
This does not mean that we should believe the Jewish peoples’ interpretations or allow them to twist and malign our beliefs. We must stand up for what we believe in and not feel intimidated by the Jewish interpretation of the word of God, no matter how knowledgeable and learned they may be.
Christians must be able to stand firm in our beliefs. In another instance, we see that God does not give the children of Israel passage into Edomite territory as He did before. The Jewish people wish to pass through and the Edomites refuse entry with no punishment from God. No abuse occurred, only a steadfast disagreement.
Numbers 20:14-21 – Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom, saying: “This is what your brother Israel says: You know about all the hardships that have come on us. 15 Our ancestors went down into Egypt, and we lived there many years. The Egyptians mistreated us and our ancestors, 16 but when we cried out to the Lord, he heard our cry and sent an angel and brought us out of Egypt. “Now we are here at Kadesh, a town on the edge of your territory.
17 Please let us pass through your country. We will not go through any field or vineyard, or drink water from any well. We will travel along the King’s Highway and not turn to the right or to the left until we have passed through your territory.” 18 But Edom answered: “You may not pass through here; if you try, we will march out and attack you with the sword.” 19 The Israelites replied: “We will go along the main road, and if we or our livestock drink any of your water, we will pay for it. We only want to pass through on foot—nothing else.”
20 Again they answered:“You may not pass through.” Then Edom came out against them with a large and powerful army. 21 Since Edom refused to let them go through their territory, Israel turned away from them.
There is a big difference between standing up for your beliefs and persecuting a people. Christians should respect the Jewish people but that does not mean that we cannot state our beliefs if given the opportunity.
Christians must also not take a position of glee at the fact that the Jewish people are in a form of exile, meaning that they are without the Temple of God. This results in their iniquity remaining unforgiven as they cannot make the required sacrifices for atonement.
As we can see in the next scripture, this is the position the Edomites took when the children of Israel were taken into exile by the Babylonians.
Obadiah 1:10-15 – Because of the violence against your brother Jacob, you will be covered with shame; you will be destroyed forever. 11 On the day you stood aloof while strangers carried off his wealth and foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem, you were like one of them. 12 You should not gloat over your brother in the day of his misfortune, nor rejoice over the people of Judah in the day of their destruction, nor boast so much in the day of their trouble. 13 You should not march through the gates of my people in the day of their disaster, nor gloat over them in their calamity in the day of their disaster, nor seize their wealth in the day of their disaster. 14 You should not wait at the crossroads to cut down their fugitives, nor hand over their survivors in the day of their trouble. 15 “The day of the Lord is near for all nations. As you have done, it will be done to you; your deeds will return upon your own head.
Ezekiel 35:5-14 – The word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man, set your face against Mount Seir; prophesy against it 3 and say: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am against you, Mount Seir, and I will stretch out my hand against you and make you a desolate waste. 4 I will turn your towns into ruins and you will be desolate. Then you will know that I am the Lord.
5 “‘Because you harbored an ancient hostility and delivered the Israelites over to the sword at the time of their calamity, the time their punishment reached its climax, 6 therefore as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I will give you over to bloodshed and it will pursue you. Since you did not hate bloodshed, bloodshed will pursue you. 7 I will make Mount Seir a desolate waste and cut off from it all who come and go. 8 I will fill your mountains with the slain; those killed by the sword will fall on your hills and in your valleys and in all your ravines. 9 I will make you desolate forever; your towns will not be inhabited. Then you will know that I am the Lord.
10 “‘Because you have said, “These two nations [Israel & Judah] and countries will be ours and we will take possession of them,” even though I the Lord was there, 11 therefore as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I will treat you in accordance with the anger and jealousy you showed in your hatred of them and I will make myself known among them when I judge you. 12 Then you will know that I the Lord have heard all the contemptible things you have said against the mountains of Israel. You said, “They have been laid waste and have been given over to us to devour.” 13 You boasted against me and spoke against me without restraint, and I heard it. 14 This is what the Sovereign Lord says: While the whole earth rejoices, I will make you desolate.
Psalm 137:7 – Remember, O Lord, against the Edomites the day of Jerusalem, how they said, “Lay it bare, lay it bare, down to its foundations!
Isaiah 34:6-15 – The Lord’s sword will be covered with blood; it will be covered with fat, with the blood from lambs and goats, with the fat from the kidneys of sheep. This is because the Lord decided there will be a sacrifice in Bozrah and much killing in Edom.
7 The oxen will be killed, and the cattle and the strong bulls.The land will be filled with their blood, and the dirt will be covered with their fat. 8 The Lord has chosen a time for punishment. He has chosen a year when people must pay for the wrongs they did to Jerusalem. 9 Edom’s rivers will be like hot tar. Its dirt will be like burning sulfur. Its land will be like burning tar. 10 The fires will burn night and day; the smoke will rise from Edom forever. Year after year that land will be empty; .no one will ever travel through that land again. 11 Birds and small animals will own that land, and owls and ravens will live there.
God will make it an empty wasteland; it will have nothing left in it. 12 The important people will have no one left to rule them; the leaders will all be gone. 13 Thorns will take over the strong towers, and wild bushes will grow in the walled cities. It will be a home for wild dogs and a place for owls to live. 14 Desert animals will live with the hyenas, and wild goats will call to their friends. Night animals will live there and find a place of rest. 15 Owls will nest there and lay eggs. When they hatch open, the owls will gather their young under their wings. Hawks will gather with their own kind.
God quickly turns against the Edomites when they assume a gleeful attitude towards their brothers’ calamity. We must not take a position of glee towards any Jewish plight or assist in the demise of the Jewish people.
The same attitude must be taken on the part of the Jewish people towards Christians, but this is not for us to enforce; only God can do this.
Deuteronomy 23:7 – Do not despise an Edomite, for the Edomites are related to you.
God has given Christians a place; a territory. Both Christians and Jews should respect one another along with their views and perspectives without any anger towards one another. This does not mean we will agree on scripture. It means abuse, anger, grudge-holding or hatred in general should not be exhibited towards one another. Once we take an attitude of glee against the Jewish people, God will turn against us.
Malachi 1:1-5 – A prophecy: The word of the Lord to Israel through Malachi. 2 “I have loved you,” says the Lord. “But you ask, ‘How have you loved us?’ “Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the Lord. “Yet I have loved Jacob, 3 but Esau I have hated, and I have turned his hill country into a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals.”
4 Edom may say, “Though we have been crushed, we will rebuild the ruins.” But this is what the Lord Almighty says: “They may build, but I will demolish. They will be called the Wicked Land, a people always under the wrath of the Lord. 5 You will see it with your own eyes and say, ‘Great is the Lord—even beyond the borders of Israel!’
God’s wrath and destruction is the result of those who take glee at the calamity of the children of Israel. We must not harm or take glee in the calamity or downfall of the Jewish people. Otherwise we will have an end like the Edomites. Although they once received land and protection from God, they were forsaken due to their change of attitude towards the Jewish people during their exile and hour of need and they are no more. The Jewish people are currently in a time of exile again as the Temple of God has been taken away and sacrifices for atonement cannot be performed. We as Christians will lose our promised land; our place in the kingdom of heaven if we adopt an Edomite attitude towards the Jewish people.
The Moabites & Ammonites: Another Lesson On How Christians Should Treat The Jewish People
The Moabites and Ammonites are another example of how not to treat the Jewish people. The Moabites and Ammonites were descendants of Lot through an incestual act with his daughters. The Moabites were descendants through Lot’s older daughter and the Ammonites were the descendants of Lot through his younger daughter.
Genesis 19:37-38 – The older daughter had a son, and she named him Moab; he is the father of the Moabites of today. 38 The younger daughter also had a son, and she named him Ben-Ammi; he is the father of the Ammonites of today.
Both the Ammonites and the Moabites were given territories to live in from God. It was in the same way the children of Israel were given territory to inhabit by God.
Deuteronomy 2:9 – Then the Lord said to me, “Do not harass the Moabites or provoke them to war, for I will not give you any part of their land. I have given Ar to the descendants of Lot as a possession.
Deuteronomy 2:19 – When you come to the Ammonites, do not harass them or provoke them to war, for I will not give you possession of any land belonging to the Ammonites. I have given it as a possession to the descendants of Lot.”
God drove out the previous inhabitants of the land for all of these nations; the Edomites, the Moabites and the Ammonites.
Deuteronomy 2:20-21 – That too was considered a land of the Rephaites, who used to live there; but the Ammonites called them Zamzummites. 21 They were a people strong and numerous, and as tall as the Anakites. The Lord destroyed them from before the Ammonites, who drove them out and settled in their place.
Deuteronomy 2:10-12 – The Emites used to live there—a people strong and numerous, and as tall as the Anakites. 11 Like the Anakites, they too were considered Rephaites, but the Moabites called them Emites. 12 Horites used to live in Seir, but the descendants of Esau drove them out. They destroyed the Horites from before them and settled in their place, just as Israel did in the land the Lord gave them as their possession.
The moment the Ammonites lifted their hand against the children of Israel in an attempt to harm them, God turned against them. This happened twice.
Instance #1
Deuteronomy 23:3-6 – No Ammonite or Moabite or any of their descendants may enter the assembly of the Lord, not even in the tenth generation. 4 For they did not come to meet you with bread and water on your way when you came out of Egypt, and they hired Balaam son of Beor from Pethor in Aram Naharaim to pronounce a curse on you. 5 However, the Lord your God would not listen to Balaam but turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the Lord your God loves you. 6 Do not seek a treaty of friendship with them as long as you live.
Both of these nations were excluded from the assembly of the Lord. In the same way, Christians who have an attitude of harm towards Jewish people in any way, shall be excluded from the assembly of the Lord (Kingdom of Heaven). Though God may have originally given them a place; a spiritual territory, it all ends with this type of attitude towards the Jewish people. One of cursing them and taking glee in any misfortune they may experience.
This type of thinking does not come from the Lord. It comes from a spirit other than the Holy Spirit.
Judges 10:6 – The people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth, the gods of Syria, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the Ammonites, and the gods of the Philistines. And they forsook the Lord and did not serve him.
Instance #2
The second example of the Ammonites and Moabites turning against the Israelites and being cursed in return, was when they looked upon Israel’s downfall and exile into Babylon with glee.
Ezekiel 25:3-7 – Say to them, ‘Hear the word of the Sovereign Lord. This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Because you said “Aha!” over my sanctuary when it was desecrated and over the land of Israel when it was laid waste and over the people of Judah when they went into exile, 4 therefore I am going to give you to the people of the East as a possession. They will set up their camps and pitch their tents among you; they will eat your fruit and drink your milk. 5 I will turn Rabbah into a pasture for camels and Ammon into a resting place for sheep. Then you will know that I am the Lord. 6 For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Because you have clapped your hands and stamped your feet, rejoicing with all the malice of your heart against the land of Israel, 7 therefore I will stretch out my hand against you and give you as plunder to the nations. I will wipe you out from among the nations and exterminate you from the countries. I will destroy you, and you will know that I am the Lord.’
And this was also the case for the Moabites.
Ezekiel 25:8-11 – This is what the Sovereign Lord says: ‘Because Moab and Seir said, “Look, Judah has become like all the other nations,” 9 therefore I will expose the flank of Moab, beginning at its frontier towns—Beth Jeshimoth, Baal Meon and Kiriathaim—the glory of that land. 10 I will give Moab along with the Ammonites to the people of the East as a possession, so that the Ammonites will not be remembered among the nations; 11 and I will inflict punishment on Moab. Then they will know that I am the Lord.’
The Moabites and Ammonites did not actually do anything to physically harm the Israelites. Simply having an attitude of pleasure over the Israelites’ misfortune, was reason enough for God to punish them by taking away their land.
This is the same thing that will befall any Christian who adopts a ‘Moabite and Ammonite’ type attitude towards the Jewish people. We will lose our land; our place in the kingdom of heaven, the territory promised to us by God.
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