Is the Bible anti-Semitic? [closed]

Question

It seems the Bible is anti-Semitic or how else do you explain these Bible passages?

God himself wanted to kill all Jews but Moses stopped him:

(Ex 32:9-11) 9 And the LORD said to Moses, I have seen this people, and behold, they are a stubborn people; 10 and now let my anger be kindled against them and I will destroy them, but I will make you a great nation. 11 And Moses prayed to the LORD his God, saying, Why, O LORD, should your anger be kindled against your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?

God said Israel is the worst nation of the world:

(Ezek 5:4-9) 4 Then you shall take some of them again and throw them into the midst of the fire and burn them with fire, and a fire shall go out from them against the whole house of Israel. 5 Thus says the Lord GOD: I have set this Jerusalem in the midst of the nations and the countries around it. 6 And she was rebellious against my judgments in wickedness more than the nations, and against my statutes more than the countries that are round about her; for they have rejected my judgments, and they have not walked in my statutes. 7 Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD: Because you have rebelled more than the nations that are around you, because you have not walked in my statutes and have not done my judgments, yes, not even according to the judgments of the nations that are around you, 8 therefore, thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I also will be against you and will execute judgments in your midst in the sight of the nations. 9 And I will do to you what I have not done, and what I will not do again, because of all your abominations.

God said all the house of Israel have a hard forehead and a stubborn heart:

(Ezek 3:5-7) 5 For you are not sent to a people of foreign speech and a hard language, but to the house of Israel— 6 not to many peoples of foreign speech and a hard language, whose words you cannot understand. Surely, if I sent you to such, they would listen to you. 7 But the house of Israel will not be willing to listen to you, for they are not willing to listen to me: because all the house of Israel have a hard forehead and a stubborn heart.

Apostle Paul about the Jews:

(1 Thess 2:14-16) 14 the Jews, 15 who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and persecuted the church, and displease God and oppose all mankind 16 by hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles that they might be saved—so as always to fill up the measure of their sins. But wrath has come upon them at last!

Answer 1

Remember, the Israelites were known as the chosen people. God chose them to set an example to the world, both as a good example and as a bad example.

Deuteronomy 28 is known as the blessings and curses chapter. In it God tells the Israelites about the blessings they will receive if they follow his guidance, and about the curses they will receive if they don't.

The verses in the question were selected because they describe instances where Israel didn't follow God's way of life.

It isn't a matter of antisemitism, simply a matter of cherry-picking the data to produce the desired result.

As for the NT selection, it is saying that the Thessalonian Church was persecuted by some non-Christian Thessalonians, just as the Jewish Church was persecuted by some non-Christian Jews.

Read the NLT translation:

^2:14 And then, dear brothers and sisters, you suffered persecution from your own countrymen. In this way, you imitated the believers in God’s churches in Judea who, because of their belief in Christ Jesus, suffered from their own people, the Jews. ^2:15 For some of the Jews killed the prophets, and some even killed the Lord Jesus. Now they have persecuted us, too. They fail to please God and work against all humanity ^2:16 as they try to keep us from preaching the Good News of salvation to the Gentiles. By doing this, they continue to pile up their sins. But the anger of God has caught up with them at last.

Answer 2

God/the bible is not anti-Semitic

antiSemitic definition

feeling or showing hostility toward or discrimination against Jews as a cultural, racial, or ethnic group

discrimination definition

prejudiced or prejudicial outlook, action, or treatment

prejudice definition

preconceived judgment or opinion

an adverse opinion or leaning formed without just grounds or before sufficient knowledge

God had just grounds and sufficient knowledge to be angry and the bible shows that.

From earlier in Exodus 32:1-4 (this is after leading them out of captivity with many signs/miracles)

And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.

2 And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me.

3 And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron.

4 And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

Ezek 5:6-7 mentions it in the verses mentioned that the people were being more wicked than those around them (an omniscient God¹ would be the one to judge)

6 And she was rebellious against my judgments in wickedness more than the nations, and against my statutes more than the countries that are round about her; for they have rejected my judgments, and they have not walked in my statutes.

7 Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD: Because you have rebelled more than the nations that are around you, because you have not walked in my statutes and have not done my judgments, yes, not even according to the judgments of the nations that are around you

Ezek 3 basically says they are stubborn, but this is preparing Ezekiel for the task he was sent to do.

1 Thess as well is just stating facts. Jews had Christ crucified, which displeased his father, God.

_{1 What is the biblical concept/idea/meaning of Gods omniscience?}

Answer 3

Wikipedia says:

The word "Semitic" was coined by German orientalist August Ludwig von Schlözer in 1781 to designate the Semitic group of languages—Aramaic, Arabic, Hebrew and others—allegedly spoken by the descendants of Biblical figure Sem, son of Noah.

The origin of "antisemitic" terminologies is found in the responses of orientalist Moritz Steinschneider to the views of orientalist Ernest Renan. Historian Alex Bein writes: "The compound anti-Semitism appears to have been used first by Steinschneider, who challenged Renan on account of his 'anti-Semitic prejudices' [i.e., his derogation of the "Semites" as a race]." Psychologist Avner Falk similarly writes: "The German word antisemitisch was first used in 1860 by the Austrian Jewish scholar Moritz Steinschneider (1816–1907) in the phrase antisemitische Vorurteile (antisemitic prejudices). Steinschneider used this phrase to characterise the French philosopher Ernest Renan's false ideas about how 'Semitic races' were inferior to 'Aryan races'"

Antisemitism

As Wikipedia says above, the word 'Semite' is of Biblical origin, referring to the descendants of Shem.

Genesis 9:17-19

New International Version

So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth.”

The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.) These were the three sons of Noah, and from them came the people who were scattered over the whole earth.

Genesis 10

New International Version

The Table of Nations

10 This is the account of Shem, Ham and Japheth, Noah’s sons, who themselves had sons after the flood.

The Japhethites The sons of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshek and Tiras. The sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Riphath and Togarmah. The sons of Javan: Elishah, Tarshish, the Kittites and the Rodanites.[b] 5 (From these the maritime peoples spread out into their territories by their clans within their nations, each with its own language.)

The Hamites The sons of Ham: Cush, Egypt, Put and Canaan. The sons of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah and Sabteka. The sons of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan. Cush was the father of Nimrod, who became a mighty warrior on the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord; that is why it is said, “Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the Lord.” The first centers of his kingdom were Babylon, Uruk, Akkad and Kalneh, in Shinar. From that land he went to Assyria, where he built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah and Resen, which is between Nineveh and Calah—which is the great city. 13 Egypt was the father of the Ludites, Anamites, Lehabites, Naphtuhites, Pathrusites, Kasluhites (from whom the Philistines came) and Caphtorites. Canaan was the father of Sidon his firstborn, and of the Hittites, Jebusites, Amorites, Girgashites, Hivites, Arkites, Sinites, Arvadites, Zemarites and Hamathites. Later the Canaanite clans scattered and the borders of Canaan reached from Sidon toward Gerar as far as Gaza, and then toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboyim, as far as Lasha. These are the sons of Ham by their clans and languages, in their territories and nations.

The Semites

Sons were also born to Shem, whose older brother was Japheth; Shem was the ancestor of all the sons of Eber. The sons of Shem: Elam, Ashur, Arphaxad, Lud and Aram. The sons of Aram: Uz, Hul, Gether and Meshek. Arphaxad was the father of Shelah, and Shelah the father of Eber. Two sons were born to Eber: One was named Peleg, because in his time the earth was divided; his brother was named Joktan. Joktan was the father of Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, Obal, Abimael, Sheba, Ophir, Havilah and Jobab. All these were sons of Joktan. The region where they lived stretched from Mesha toward Sephar, in the eastern hill country. These are the sons of Shem by their clans and languages, in their territories and nations.

These are the clans of Noah’s sons, according to their lines of descent, within their nations. From these the nations spread out over the earth after the flood.

Therefore, Biblically, the word 'semite' is not synonymous with the Jewish people or the Jewish religion (ideology). In summary, the Bible is not anti-Semitic. Those conflicts reported in the Gospel of John between Jesus and the Pharisees are doctrinal (ideological) rather than racial.