Answers to Prejudice in Prophecy. Isaiah 53 (24 May 2017, 28 Iyar, 5777)
Adapted from on an answer by Yair Davidiy to Qoura:
Why were the Jews expelled from so many countries throughout history?
During my earner years in Israel I had a conversation with a couple of doctors concerning anti-Semitism and Prejudice in general.
One of the physicians related that when he was learning medicine in Italy he met up with quite a few refugees from Balkan areas.
One of them was a fellow student who must have treated those from a specific neighboring area.
Despite of necessity having had first hand experience with those from this certain place he was convinced that some of them had tails like monkeys.
He had never actually met any like that but that is what he had heard from childhood. Despite having evidence to the contrary he had never freed himself from the superstitions and prejudicial beliefs of his infancy.
The point of the above anecdote is that we are all subject to preconceived opinions and we are all liable to be influenced by the prejudices of those around us.
The Lost Ten Tribes are among Western Peoples.
This fact needs to be made known.
A drawing together should take place between Joseph (i.e. the Ten Tribes) and Judah, that is, the Jews.
Those of us who involve themselves in this issue are liable to take some flak.
Enemies of Judah exist everywhere.
Sometimes they are simply mistaken but in other cases they are out-rightly malicious.
Usually it is a mixture of both.
These enemies of Judah often infiltrate organizations and movements that believe in the Ten Tribes.
They attempt to poison our movement from within. This has given they who hold beliefs such as our own a bad name.
We need to beware of these enemies of Judah who in effect are also our enemies..
We also need to answer them when necessary both for the sake of others and for the sake of ourselves.
At the least who should know what the answer is!
One of the claims against Judah is that everywhere they went, in every country they stayed, at some time or other they were expelled.
The implication is to suggest that there was something wrong with the Jews to elicit such a reaction!
We saw the number of 58 countries being given as those from which Jews were expelled.
This does not include places like the nations of Scandinavia into which Jews were not even allowed until recently.
Jews are human like everyone else. Some Jews may make mistakes here and there.
On the whole Jews bring a blessing to the places they dwell in.
Not everyone wants to be blessed.
There are negative energies in all of us.
Throughout history Jews were persecuted, mistreated, and expelled.
The surprising fact however is that the Gentiles treated themselves much worse.
Their rulers exploited, enslaved, degraded, and robbed them constantly.
They did the same to each other, all the time.
In fact when you look at it that way the Jews were relatively better off.
They were often much appreciated. The appreciation however was interspersed with ingratitude.
So after getting along rather nicely for a while the Jews would be blamed for things others were responsible for.
They would then be killed, forced to convert, or expelled according to the mood prevailing with the local ruler or his populace or his religious dignitaries.
As we said, in a general sense over the long run the Gentiles did worse things to each other.
If some bad characteristics are to be attributed to the Children of Judah because of the way they were treated then even more so should it be applied to the erstwhile host populations.
The Jews are the "suffering servant" who pays for the sins of others, as described in Isaiah chapter 53.
1 Who has believed our message?
And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
2 For he grew up before him like a tender shoot,
And like a root out of parched ground;
He has no stately form or majesty
That we should look upon him,
Nor appearance that we should be attracted to him.
3 He was despised and forsaken of men,
A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
And like one from whom men hide their face
He was despised, and we did not esteem him.
4 Surely our griefs he himself bore,
And our sorrows he carried;
Yet we ourselves esteemed him stricken,
Smitten of God, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities;
The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him,
And by his scourging we are healed.
6 All of us like sheep have gone astray,
Each of us has turned to his own way;
But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all
To fall on him.
7 He was oppressed and he was afflicted,
Yet He did not open His mouth;
Like a lamb that is led to slaughter,
And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers,
So He did not open his mouth.
8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away;
And as for His generation, who considered
That He was cut off out of the land of the living
For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due?
9 His grave was assigned with wicked men,
Yet he was with a rich man in His death,
Because he had done no violence,
Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.
10 But the LORD was pleased
To crush him, putting hm to grief;
If He would render himself as a guilt offering,
He will see his offspring,
He will prolong his days,
And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in his hand.
11 As a result of the anguish of his soul,
He will see it and be satisfied;
By his knowledge the Righteous One,
My Servant, will justify the many,
As he will bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore, I will allot him a portion with the great,
And he will divide the booty with the strong;
Because he poured out himself to death,
And was numbered with the transgressors;
Yet he himself bore the sin of many,
And interceded for the transgressors.
23 .. Kings will be your guardians,
And their princesses your nurses.
They will bow down to you with their faces to the earth
And lick the dust of your feet;
And you will know that I am the LORD;
Those who hopefully wait for Me will not be put to shame.