Answers about Jews

Who are the twenty four elders that John foresaw? Jew or gentile?

There are 5 references to the twenty four elders – Rev 4:4; 4:10;  5:8-10; 11:16; 19:4.  Looking at  Rev 5:8-10 NKJV: (8) Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the [...]

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In John 8:44 who was Jesus talking to when he said, “You belong to your father the devil”?

Jesus is talking to a group of Jews including some Pharisees (John 8:13) and possibly other Jewish leaders (John 8:22 NET). He had said to them “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. [...]

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Why did the Jews constantly and so easily fall away from God and serve the gods of other nations?

They are a people who go astray in their heart, and they have not known my ways. Psalm 95:10 God uses these words to describe the behaviour of the nation of Israel as they wandered in the wilderness. It shows us the primary reason why they fell away so easily and frequently. If they had [...]

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What does “Jew” mean in the Bible?

The meaning of the word “Jew” has changed over time, and we need to be careful in applying the meaning from one period to a passage written at a different period. Up until the exile, “Jew” meant somebody from the tribe of Judah. There are hardly any occurrences of this in Scripture; one exception is [...]

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Was Galilee not part of Israel (the Northern Kingdom) destroyed by the Assyrians? If so, why were Galileans not stigmatized to the same degree as Samaritans?

The region of Galilee is in Northern Palestine, and thus would have formed part of the Kingdom of Israel. The Israelite population of Galilee was deported by the Assyrians (cf. 2 Kings 15:29). This region would have been repopulated by Gentiles from other parts of the Assyrian empire (like the Samaritans). Under the Maccabees this region [...]

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Why is Israel important to God?

Israel is important to God because he made a promise about it to a man called Abraham: God promises that he would give that area of the world to Abraham and his descendants, the Jews (the Children of Israel). {18} “To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great [...]

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Why were Satan and the angel fighting over the high priest? (Zechariah 3)

The first question, before answering why Satan and the angel were fighting over the high priest, is to ask, what is a vision? Is a vision a view into real events happening in heaven? Or is a vision a kind of symbolic parable told by a prophet to illustrate a point. Of course the answer [...]

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Did the Bible foretell the holocaust?

In a general sense, God promised the Jews that if they didn’t obey him, then: The LORD will drive you and the king you set over you to a nation unknown to you or your fathers … You will become a thing of horror and an object of scorn and ridicule to all the nations [...]

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What does Luke 22:31 mean?

“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you,4 that he might sift you like wheat, 32 but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” (Luke 22:31-32) As usual, Satan means adversary and we have to determine who the adversary is. If we [...]

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Is Jewish persecution a result of them being God’s chosen people?

The Jews have suffered numerous and terrible persecutions including the Spanish inquisition, the Russian pogroms and the Nazi Holocaust. The Bible predicted that this is exactly what would happen. For example, Deuteronomy says that if the people of Israel did not serve God as he had commanded then . . . And you shall become [...]

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