The Jew is a problem, has always been so, and under human rule will continue to be a problem. The Jew not only exists ; but persists, and “there’s the rub.” The meaning of his existence to those willing to accept the divine revelation is answered in Jeremiah’s prophecy chap. 30 v 11. “Though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee.” When discussing the Jewish problem some years ago with an English schoolmaster, we quoted the above passage and asked him if it was true, He replied, yes it is true, but I don’t believe it. Truly a case of “willingly ignorant.” Thomas Henry Huxley (the grandfather of Julian Huxley, whose voice today is loudly heard in atheistic circles) expresses as his religion “a great respect for the Nazarenism of Jesus—very little for later “Christianity” but the only religion that appeals to me is prophetic Judaism.” This is quoted by his grand-son in his essays in Popular Science.” p.p. 138.
Although God never intended to make a full end of the Jew, others have tried, but failed, and it must have been a great shock to Frederick the Great when he asked “What is the best argument for the Christian Religion,” to receive the reply “The Jews your majesty.”
The Jew, scattered and pealed has been subject to the scorn and hatred of mankind, and was forced by circumstances to do what others were not allowed to do, and at which he made a great success. Up to the beginning of the Christian era the vast majority of the Jewish people were agricultural, laboriously tilling the soil and living by the sweat of their brow. Later after a succession of revolts they were turned adrift, carried as slaves into far distant lands, where a large proportion drifted in the end into slums of great cities, thus becoming the “Children of the Ghetto.” The Jew could not accompany Christians to battle, He could possess no weapons, the Assize of Arms forbade this in England in 1187. He could not take his place under the feudal system, as the oath was a religious one by the Holy Trinity, which no Jew could take. He was driven from the lands, and could not take the trades, which were in the hands of the Merchant Guild to which normally Jews were not admitted. What then could the Jew do ? Space would forbid a detailed account. Christian burial was refused to all usurers and the State was summoned to help the Church to suppress the practice. Louis Golding in his book “The Jewish Problem” states “Judaism is the oldest social system in which the evil of usury in an agricultural community is recognized.” For the Lords and merchants of the early middle ages, it was a convenience to them that money should be lent on terms. It was the times, not the Jews, who made the system indispensable.
From the point of view of national prosperity it mattered not where the money came from. From the point of view of the Kings private pocket it mattered a good deal that the money lenders should be, where ever possible Jews, and for this reason : the Jews were his private property and so were all the profits they made in the one industry. He not merely allowed them, but virtually compelled them to practice usury. In view of the foregoing how true was Mark Twain’s “Eulogy of the Jew,” as copied from Harpers Magazine 1899.
“The Jew, what is the secret of his immortality”? “If the statistics be right, that the Jew constitutes but 1 percent of the human race, it suggests the nebulous puff of stardust lost in the blaze of the milky way. Properly the Jew ought hardly to be heard of, but he is heard of, has always been heard of. He is as prominent on the Planet as any other people, and his commercial importance is extraordinary out of proportion to the smallness of his bulk.
He has made a marvelous fight in the world of all ages and he has done it with his hands tied behind his back. He could be proud of himself and be excused for it. His contributions to the worlds list of great names in literature, medicine, music, art, finance and abstruse learning are also out of proportion to the weakness of his numbers. The Egyptians, Babylonians, Persians rose, filled the planet with sound and splendor, then faded into dream stuff and passed away.
The Greeks and Romans followed, made a great noise and they are gone. Other people sprang up, held their torch high for a time, but they sit in the twilight now or have vanished.
The Jew saw them all, beat them all, and is now what he always was, exhibiting no decadence, no weakening of his parts, no slowing of his energies, no dulling of his alert or aggressive mind. All things are mortal but the Jew, all forces pass but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality ?” We suggest there is no secret ; for some 2600 years God’s Word has contained the answer.
“Though I make a full end of all nations—yet will I not make a full end of thee.” What then does all this mean? The title of our subject requires an answer. Only the Word of God supplies the answer. At the outset, let it be stated that the Jews were a people of God’s choice. God was not their choice. This point is very important. God had revealed Himself through His creative works, now He would reveal himself through a nation with far reaching results.
Gen 12, v 1-3. Abraham became the father of the Jewish race and through His promised seed a greater seed would arise who would become the nucleus of the whole purpose of God, The history of the Jew is fully told in the Revealed Word. The evidence of God working through them and that they would be a witness to all people is undeniable. Notwithstanding the visible hand of God amongst them, His mighty acts, His mercy and patience, they failed to understand. “They despised His Word, misused His prophets, until the wrath of God arose against His people till there was no remedy.” 2 Chron 36, v 16. The bitter denunciation through Jeremiah Chap. 2, v 9-13, is a challenge in itself.
The gods of surrounding nations with idolatrous practices, so appealing to fleshly lusts reveals mankind at its worst. Flesh called for no change in their rituals, only the strong hand of God could do that ; but Israel refused that hand, and notwithstanding the strong hand of God, His miracles and His mercies, they rejected the “Fountain of living waters and hewed out broken cisterns that can hold no water.”
What feelings are those in Isaiah 63, v 8-10. “In all their affliction, He was afflicted and the angel of His presence saved them ; but they rebelled and vexed His Holy Spirit ; therefore he turned to be their enemy,” That then is why the Jew has become a problem; but there is a solution to the problem, and the solution centers in their rejected Messiah.
The apostle Paul sums up the matter very neatly in Rom 11, v 2. “God has not cast away His people who he foreknew,” and Gentiles who rejoice in their own exaltation at the expense of the Jew receive a humiliating retort, in verses 19-26 of the same chapter.
“If thou were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree ; how much more shall these which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree ; for I would not brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits, that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in.
And so all Israel shall be saved, as it is written, there shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob.” Rom 11, v 24-26. It was a privilege for the Gentiles to be united to the Israelitish stock, they were graffed Contrary to nature. Not so the Jew. It was his right, as one of God’s chosen race. The Jew was of the original stock, the Gentile a “scion” united to the stock. The uniting, was the goodness of God. “God hath concluded them all in unbelief that He might have mercy upon all.”
Well might the Apostle joyously exclaim “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out.” Rom 11,
Signs are indicative that the Gentile times are closing. When complete, the Jewish problem will end. “Then the Lord shall inherit Judah, His portion in the Holy Land and choose Jerusalem again. Be silent, O all flesh, before the Lord : for he is raised up out of His Holy habitation.” May it be our joy to be partakers of that glory.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One