Q. Why have the Jews been so terribly persecuted since the diaspora? Surely God has not been punishing so many because they rejected Christ two thousand years ago?

It would be wrong and dangerous for us to make a final dogmatic assertion as to why the Jews have been subject to so many pogroms and persecutions over the last two Millennia. That part of the reason they have suffered is because of their rejection of the Saviour cannot be denied; for with the first Advent of Christ came a New Covenant and new conditions for acceptance by Yahweh. Yah'shua (Jesus) taught that no-one could come to the Father save by Him. That means that access to God is through Christ alone, including for those who have never heard of Christ.

There are undoubtedly many factors in this equation that we do not know about but I would like to offer another one which I believe to be of some significance. God has always preserved His people Israel when they have been obedient to the commandments. His covenants with them have not been replaced or revoked (even though many Christians erroneously claim this on the basis of a misinterpretation of key passages in the New Testament).

According to Epiphanius, a church writer who lived at the end of the 4th century AD, who quotes from an unknown source, Jesus once said: "I am come to do away with [animal] sacrifices, and if ye {Jews} cease not from animal sacrifices, the wrath of God will not cease from you" (Gos.Eb.30. 16.4-5).

Animal sacrifices continued until the destruction of the Temple and the expulsion of the Jews from the Holy Land. Thus the catastrophe of the destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish diaspora could conceivably be the result of continuing animal sacrifices, their continuance being a blasphemy because the types which they represented were fulfilled in the atonement of Christ.

This hypothesis is, admittedly, weak because after the diaspora animal sacrifices completely ceased among the Jews save amongst the falashas in Ethiopia (who, interestingly, are amongst the poorest and most backward Jews).

It could also be argued that the reverse of this scenario is true, viz. that since the Jews have rejected the blood of Christ, the only covering for sin left open for them is animal sacrifice. However, Yahweh says that animal sacrifices are no longer efficacious as a covering or an atonement. Therefore the fact that no animal sacrifice was offered after the destruction of Jerusalem accounts for all the difficulties they have had at the hands of the Gentiles is not a valid argument.

It is possible (more than likely, in fact) that the quotation by Epiphanius is spurious. There is nothing like it in the New Testament and its utterance by Jesus would most certainly have been used against Him at His trial before the Sanhedrin. But again, we do not know if the record of the trial we have includes all the charges that were laid against Him.

I doubt that we shall obtain a satisfactory answer to your question on the basis of the biblical and historical data we have at hand, any more than we will be able to answer the vexing question of the suffering of mankind in general that fully reveals God's mind and purposes. We know some of the reasons but we are far from knowing all. Because the Hebrews are the "apple of God's eye" it would also be natural to expect Satan to give them his most concerted attention, for all the Adversary does is ultimately to spite and hurt the Almighty. On the other hand, are all the Jews of the last two Millennia actually Hebrews? See, Who are the Jews?.

This page was created on 16 October 1997 Last updated on 26 February 1998

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