Walk Of Life – Day 2 March 2023 – Thoughts From The Book Of Psalms

Psalm 129 – Post Exile Persecution (For Their Uniqueness)

If Israel would have to sing this psalm today they would do it with deep sorrow as they recollect a history of 2000 years of persecution. Post exile, Jews were persecuted for being unique and set apart for God. The nations that persecuted Israel were:

• Greeks – Alexander the Great defeated Persians and infiltrated Israel with Greek literature and Hellenistic culture. Zeus’s, pagan god was worshiped in the temple and those who rebelled were persecuted or killed.
• Romans – Although for a short time the Hasmonean Dynasty ruled Israel for 100 years, it was later conquered by the Roman general Pompey who did not let them practice Judaism. Later Julius Caesar defeated Pompey and operated politically through a local vassal, King Herod to conduct the affairs of the nation. Jews were sold as slaves and forced to flee from Judea to various Roman provinces in Middle East, Europe and North Africa. Revolts against the Roman corruption increased due to which people migrated to Galilee.

It is this time, the good news of the Kingdom of Heaven was preached by Jesus Christ. Threatened by his teachings, the Jewish leaders became aid to the crucifixion of Christ under Governor Pilate’s command. The Jewish Christians were persecuted, burned as torches and killed in gladiator games for their faith. This ended when Constantine gained control of Eastern Rome and made Christianity as its official religion.

• German Tribes – After the fall of Roman Empire in 476 AD, many Jewish community were persecuted severely by the German Barbarian Visigoth tribes and also by the Byzantine Empire.
• Arabs – Islam was born in Mecca in 620 AD. The Arabs conquered most of Roman Empire, African and Europe and favored the Jewish people because of their monotheistic beliefs. The Dome of the Rock was constructed in 685-691 AD which made Jerusalem a holy site of three religion, Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

The Jews persecution reduced and they began to flourish as traders in Spain and many European  countries. AD 1046 was called the golden age of Jewish culture in Spain.

• Turks – In 1078 AD, the Seljuk Dynasty expanded their reign in Jerusalem who forbade the Jews and the Christians to visit the holy land.
• Europe – Crusades were organized by the European Catholic Christians against the Turks between 1100-1200 AD which resulted in the death of many Jews as they believed that Muslims favored the Jews. The Roman Catholic Christians also saw the Jews as deicide people.
• Further in 1350-1450 AD, the Jews were falsely blamed for the spread of the bacterial infection named Black Death which led to the death of half of the population in Europe within five years. Rumors of the Jews poisoning the wells on behalf of the Arabs spread which led to persecution and expulsion from Europe.
• Russia – Some resettled in Ottoman Empire and others to Poland and Lithvenia by 1630 AD. Hundreds and thousands of Jews were killed under the Russian Empire in 1760 AD.

The surviving Jews migrated to United States and Western Europe where they started a movement called Zionism in Basel, Switzerland with a goal to create the Jewish state which was occupied by the Palestine Arabs under Ottoman rule.

During World War 1 in 1914, Jewish loyalty was questioned as they were spread all over the world. War killed many Jews on both sides. The Zionist Jews who remained neutral were promised help to establish an independent nation by the British government who signed the Balfour Declaration in 1917 in exchange for their support against the Ottoman Empire/Germany/Austria. Palestine came under the British rule which enabled large scale immigration of the Jews between 1922-1947.

• Germany/Nazis – Anti-Semitic narrative increased under the leadership of Adolf Hitler in 1921 who circulated the theory that the Jews stabbed against their back in World War 1 to gain political power. As the result of this the Jews were thrown into concentration camp, were experimented on and massacred in the 1930’s known as the period of Holocaust.

Following the World War 2 and the Holocaust, mass immigrants moved to Palestine which led to violent confrontation among the Palestine Arabs and the Jews. In 1947, the British handed over this matter to the United Nation who proposed the formation of two independent states. Finally, on 14 the May 1948, an independent state of Israel was formed.

God’s faithfulness has indeed cut Israel from the ropes of the ungodly nation. May they remain radiant like the burning bush which was on flames but still was not consumed because it represented the power of God. Amen.