Tanakh= Old Testament

Don’t confuse the Tanakh with the Talmud nor Kabbalah.  These are both extra-biblical Jewish traditions.

Unlike many of his natural descendants throughout the ages and up until today, the Jewish forefather Abraham saw himself as a servant to those outside of his own family and considered them as people whom he was obligated to regard with dignity, to demonstrate righteousness before, and to deal justly with (Genesis 23:3-20- the context is that Abraham’s wife Sarah has died and he is seeking to acquire land in Canaan to bury her).

Right as God reminded Israel through Moses of the special purpose He had for them, He also reminded them that He does not regard persons (meaning He does not show partiality) nor take bribes.  And He commanded them here to love the stranger- with the clear implication that they should treat people like the Egyptians the way that the Egyptians should have treated the Jews when the Jews were in Egypt. 

Deuteronomy 10:14-19: “Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the Lord’s thy God, the earth also, with all that therein is.  Only the Lord had a delight in thy fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you above all people, as it is this day.  Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked.  For the Lord your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward: He doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment (clothing).  Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.”

Also note here: None of this justifies illegal immigration- for anyone.  The Israelites were required to have an interview with Pharaoh and receive his permission before they were allowed to come and live in Egypt (see Genesis 47:1-4).

The true God does not regard persons nor take bribes.  Do you hear that?

What do Korah, Dathan, Abiram, Achan the son of Carmi, Abimelech the son of Gideon, the sons of Eli the priest, Absalom the son of David, Jeroboam the son of Nebat, Ahab the husband of Jezebel, the elders of Israel who opposed Jeremiah the prophet, etc. all have in common?  

Many of them died in special acts of God’s vengeance, they were all wicked in God’s sight, and they were all natural Israelites.

God even established among Jacob’s (aka Israel’s) descendants, descendants who were even alive while Jacob still lived, that being a descendant of Jacob does absolutely nothing to spare one who does wickedly in God’s eyes from His wrath and condemnation.

Genesis 38:6-10: “And Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, whose name was Tamar.  And Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the Lord; and the Lord slew (killed) him.  And Judah said unto Onan, Go in unto thy brother’s wife, and marry her, and raise up seed to thy brother.  And Onan knew that the seed should not be his; and it came to pass, when he went in unto his brother’s wife, that he spilled it on the ground, lest that he should give seed to his brother.  And the thing which he did displeased the Lord: wherefore he slew (killed) him also.”

Before Israel entered Canaan (referring to the entrance which was of God- their entrance under Joshua who took over for Moses), God told the Israelites that the land was not theirs unconditionally.  

Neither natural Israelites nor anyone else were ever privileged to commit sin.  

Leviticus 18:24-28: “Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things (my note- read the whole chapter to see what things are referred to here- and note that modern Israel must be under God’s wrath): for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you: And the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants.  Ye shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations; neither any of your own nation, nor any stranger that sojourneth among you: (For all these abominations have the men of the land done, which were before you, and the land is defiled;) That the land spue not you out also, when ye defile it, as it spued out the nations that were before you.”

When God deputized Israel under Joshua to execute judgment upon the Canaanites, it was only for the particular occasion as the completion of a long saga of God showing much patience to the exceedingly wicked Canaanites and preparing Israel (even preparing Israel through purifying them much in the process- even killing off virtually an entire generation of Israelites in the wilderness; and killing tens of thousands of others in judgment as part of this purification process).  

The goal was always for God’s righteous ways to prevail and for His worship to be established in righteousness (see especially Deuteronomy 4:1-10 here).  

Blessing an allegedly inherently genetically special group of people was never the goal nor part of the process- because such a people never existed- since God is not a partial respecter of persons.

We see (from the New Testament) in Luke 4:16-31 how the inhabitants of Jesus’ hometown Nazareth were angry with Him and tried to kill Him simply because He simply pointed out, right from the Tanakh/Old Testament, how there were times when God chose to help gentiles and overlooked Jews there.  Gentiles who have diligently sought the God of Israel with contrite hearts have had their faith rewarded with help from Him which Israelites who did not do so did not obtain. 

More examples of such gentiles could be pointed out right from the Tanakh.  Rahab, Ruth, the Queen of Sheba, Ebed-melech the Ethiopian (in the Book of Jeremiah) etc. etc.  

Along the same lines, many more examples could be taken right from the Tanakh of natural Jews who were judged severely by God and died under His wrath.

Jeremiah 9:25-26 says: “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will punish all them which are circumcised with the uncircumcised; Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the children of Ammon, and Moab, and all that are in the utmost corners, that dwell in the wilderness: for all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart.”

One such additional example is Jehoiakim.  Jehoiakim was a wicked king of Judah who thought that he was above and/or beyond the scope of God’s wrath.  Since God is no respecter of persons, that was not so.  

All denial of, and opposition to, warnings of coming judgment and calls to repentance in light of this won’t negate the judgment- it will only make it worse.  Let all take heed.

Jeremiah chapter 36: “And it came to pass in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, that this word came unto Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, Take thee a roll of a book, and write therein all the words that I have spoken unto thee against Israel, and against Judah, and against all the nations, from the day I spoke unto thee, from the days of Josiah, even unto this day.  It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I purpose to do unto them; that they may return every man from his evil way; that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin.  Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah: and Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the Lord, which he had spoken unto him, upon a roll of a book.  And Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, I am shut up; I cannot go into the house of the Lord: Therefore go thou, and read in the roll, which thou hast written from my mouth, the words of the Lord in the ears of the people in the Lord’s house upon the fasting day: and also thou shalt read them in the ears of all Judah that come out of their cities.  It may be they will present their supplication before the Lord, and will return every one from his evil way: for great is the anger and the fury that the Lord hath pronounced against this people.  And Baruch the son of Neriah did according to all that Jeremiah the prophet commanded him, reading in the book the words of the Lord in the Lord’s house.  And it came to pass in the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, in the ninth month, that they proclaimed a fast before the Lord to all the people in Jerusalem, and to all the people that came from the cities of Judah unto Jerusalem.  Then read Baruch in the book the words of Jeremiah in the house of the Lord, in the chamber of Gemariah the son of Shaphan the scribe, in the higher court, at the entry of the new gate of the Lord’s house, in the ears of all the people.  When Michaiah the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, had heard out of the book all the words of the Lord, Then he went down into the king’s house, into the scribe’s chamber: and, lo, all the princes sat there, even Elishama the scribe, and Delaiah the son of Shemaiah, and Elnathan the son of Achbor, and Gemariah the son of Shaphan, and Zedekiah the son of Hananiah, and all the princes.  Then Michaiah declared unto them all the words that he had heard, when Baruch read the book in the ears of the people.  Therefore all the princes sent Jehudi the son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, unto Baruch, saying, Take in thine hand the roll wherein thou hast read in the ears of the people, and come.  So Baruch the son of Neriah took the roll in his hand, and came unto them.  And they said unto him, Sit down now, and read it in our ears.  So Baruch read it in their ears.  Now it came to pass, when they had heard all the words, they were afraid both one and other, and said unto Baruch, We will surely tell the king of all these words.  And they asked Baruch, saying, Tell us now, How didst thou write all these words at his mouth?  Then Baruch answered them, He pronounced all these words unto me with his mouth, and I wrote them with ink in the book.  Then said the princes unto Baruch, Go, hide thee, thou and Jeremiah; and let no man know where ye be.  And they went in to the king into the court, but they laid up the roll in the chamber of Elishama the scribe, and told all the words in the ears of the king.  So the king sent Jehudi to fetch the roll: and he took it out of Elishama the scribe’s chamber.  And Jehudi read it in the ears of the king, and in the ears of all the princes which stood beside the king.  Now the king sat in the winterhouse in the ninth month: and there was a fire on the hearth burning before him.  And it came to pass, that when Jehudi had read three or four leaves, he cut it with the penknife, and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth, until all the roll was consumed in the fire that was on the hearth.  Yet they were not afraid, nor rent their garments, neither the king, nor any of his servants that heard all these words.  Nevertheless Elnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah had made intercession to the king that he would not burn the roll: but he would not hear them.  But the king commanded Jerahmeel the son of Hammelech, and Seraiah the son of Azriel, and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel, to take Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet: but the Lord hid them.  Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, after that the king had burned the roll, and the words which Baruch wrote at the mouth of Jeremiah, saying, Take thee again another roll, and write in it all the former words that were in the first roll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah hath burned.  And thou shalt say to Jehoiakim king of Judah, Thus saith the Lord; Thou hast burned this roll, saying, Why hast thou written therein, saying, The king of Babylon shall certainly come and destroy this land, and shall cause to cease from thence man and beast?  Therefore thus saith the Lord of Jehoiakim king of Judah; He shall have none to sit upon the throne of David: and his dead body shall be cast out in the day to the heat, and in the night to the frost.  And I will punish him and his seed and his servants for their iniquity; and I will bring upon them, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and upon the men of Judah, all the evil that I have pronounced against them; but they hearkened not.  Then took Jeremiah another roll, and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah; who wrote therein from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the book which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire: and there were added besides unto them many like words.”

Aaron’s email is: [email protected]

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