"They That Did the King’s Business Helped the Jews” “ And all the rulers of the provinces, and the lieutenants, and the deputies, and officers of the king, helped the Jews.” Esther 9:3. If ever in their history the Jews needed your help, they need it now. Israel is facing Armageddon. In her own strength she has raised up her standard and is once more a national entity. But Zionism is a political and not a religious movement. The tides of Jew-hate and anti- Semitism are rising like a flood. There is a resurgence of it in Germany; reports from behind the Iron Curtain are no better. Even in these Unit ed States the mails are satur ated with venomous poison against the Jews. Can we shut up our bowels of m ercy to this suffering peo ple? The heathen of Haman’s day helped th e Jews in their hour of distress. Can we do less? There is no better way to help the Jews than to point them to the Lord Jesus Christ, their Messiah. Our world-wide testimony to Israel is worthy of your faithful prayers and sympathy. THE CHOSEN PEOPLE, be loved b y Bible students for its helpful information on proph ecy and the Jews is sent to all contributors.
WORDS from the WORD by Charles L. Feinberg, Th.D., Ph D., Director, Talbot Theological Seminary
Hebrew , Israe lite , Jew
( lonsiderable harm has been done to ithe truth by a failure to understand ' these three names aright, Hebrew, Israelite and Jew. Questions come con stantly from interested students of the Word seeking for clarification of the matter. Hebrew ( ‘Ibhri) is first employed with Abraham and is the oldest name for the chosen people, contrasted with other nations (Gen. 14:13). See its application to Joseph in Genesis 39:14, 17; 40:15; 41:12; to the descendants of Jacob in Egypt in Exodus 1:15; 2:6, 11, 13; 3:18; in the Mosaic law, Exodus 21:2 and Deuter onomy 15:12; in history, 1 Samuel 4:6, 9 and 13:7, 19; and in the prophetic books, Jonah 1:9. The origin of the name is still in dispute although two main opinions have been given. Some suggest that the name may have come from Eber, the ancestor of Abraham (Gen. 10:21- 25). Others think it comes from a word referring to one from the other side, a crosser. Eusebius, the Chris tian historian of the third century A.D., explained it as referring to those who had passed over from the worship of idols to the service of the true God. This is devotional but not explana tory. It probably refers to the migra tion of Abraham from Ur to Canaan. From inscriptions of the Near East two identifications have been proposed for the Hebrews: 1) the Apri of the Egyptian monuments (not generally favored now ); 2) the Habiru of the Tell el-Amama Tablets. The linguis tic connection in the latter case is good but still does not settle the matter. The Habiru are revealed as invading Canaan between 1400 and 1360 B.C. In the New Testament the name Hebrew is used of the Hebrew and Aramaic speaking Jews in distinction from the Greek speaking Jews, Hellen ists (Acts 6:1). When Paul spoke of himself as a Hebrew of Hebrews, he meant both parents were Hebrew. When used of language in the New Testament, Hebrew refers either to Aramaic (John 5:2) or Hebrew proper (Rev. 9:11; 16:16). An Israelite is a descendant of Jacob or Israel (Ex. 9:7). It occurs four
times in the New Testament: of Na thanael (John 1:47); by Paul (Rom. 9:4; 11:1; 2 Cor. 11:22). Strictly speaking, Jew (Hebrew Yehudi, Greek Ioudaios ) has reference to one who belongs to Judah and no thought of derogation is included here in the least (Gen. 49:8). It seems not to have been used generally until the Judean kingdom was the only king dom left in the land. In time it came to be used synonymously with Israel ite and Hebrew (Jer. 32:12; 34:9; 38:19; 40:11,12; 41:3; 52:28,30; also Esth. 2:5 — of Mordecai who was a Benjamite; 3:4; Zech. 8:23). In the gospels, Acts and the Epistles, Jews are the same as the Israelites. They are contrasted with Gentiles (John 2 :6), Samaritans (John 4:9) and proselytes (Acts 2:10). Timothy’s mother is referred to as a Jewess (Acts 16:1), and Drusilla, wife of Felix, is similarly designated (Acts 24:24). The language of the people in the time of Hezekiah is Jewish (2 Kings 18:26-28; parallel in Isa. 36:11-13). Paul warns Titus of Jewish fables (Titus 1:14) and mentions to the Galatians his relationship to the Jews’ religion (Gal. 1:13, 14). We are now prepared to evaluate the baseless claim of the Anglo-Israel- ites that they are of Israel and not of Judah, and that the two are distinctly separate. This position has no defense either ethnologically or linguistically or biblically. When Paul can refer to himself at one time as a Hebrew (Phil. 3:5), at another time as a Jew (Acts 22:3), and at still another time as an Israelite (Rom. 11:1, while claiming to be of the tribe of Benja min), we may be sure that the terms are entirely synonymous in usage. We have a similar example of a re stricted meaning becoming enlarged through usage in our word “Yankee.” At first it had reference to one from the State of Connecticut, then a resi dent of New England, then one living in the North in contrast to the South, and most recently (since World War I) to all Americans as contrasted with those of foreign lands. We need to keep our Bible terms clear lest we fall into grievous and hurtful errors. END.
AM ER ICAN BOARD OF M ISSIONS TO THE JEWS, Inc. [ 236 West 72nd Street, Dept. 8 | New York 23, N.Y. I Canadian Office:
| 39 King William St., Hamilton, Ont., Canada 1 I I do want to help the Jews. Here is $.......... Use it as God directs, to make known the saving power of the Lord Jesus Christ to I I Israel. . Name... Address................................................ I I ' City.................. Zone..... State............ I
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