Biblical Anti-Semitism
towards8The Bible is indeed anti-Semitic. The biblical God is an Anti-Semite. The church father Ambrose of Milan, for example, came to this conclusion when he wrote: "God always hated the Jews. It is essential that all Christians hate them." And the church father John Chrysostom wrote: "In fact Isaiah called the Jews dogs and Jeremiah called them mare-mad horses. This was not because they suddenly changed natures with those beasts but because they were pursuing the lustful habits of those animals."
As someone who has read the entire Bible, I can agree with both of them, who are respected as great church fathers. It starts at the very beginning when the Jews were liberated from Egypt and arrived at Mount Sinai. Although the Jews saw the miracles of God, the first thing they did while Moses was on the mountain was to make a golden bull and worship it. The Jews provoked God so much with their evil deeds that God made them wander in the desert for 40 years as punishment, even though they could have reached the land of Canaan in less than 2 weeks (Num 32:13). The Jews provoked God so much that God even wanted to destroy the people of Israel completely (Ex 33:5; Deut 9:12-14). And even later, the Jews provoked God by, among other things, practicing child sacrifice (Jer 32:30-35) and eating blood (Ezk 33:23-26). The Jews were so wicked that God called them the worst nation (Ezk 3:4-7, 5:4-9).
Antisemitism is also clearly evident in the New Testament. Jesus calls the Jews serpents who will go to hell (Matt 23:29-33) and children of the devil (Jhn 8:44-49). Furthermore, apostle Paul writes about the Jews in 1 Thessalonians 2:14-16: "The Jews, who both killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and persecuted us. They are not pleasing to God, but hostile to all men, hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved; with the result that they always fill up the measure of their sins. But wrath has come upon them to the utmost."
Below I will provide further quotes from well-known Christians.
Apostle Paul:
The Jews, who both killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and persecuted us. They are not pleasing to God, but hostile to all men, hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved; with the result that they always fill up the measure of their sins. But wrath has come upon them to the utmost.
Justin Martyr:
The Jews were behind all the persecutions of the Christians. They wandered through the country everywhere hating and undermining the Christian faith.
Eusebius of Caesarea:
Jews in every community crucified a Christian at their Purim festival as a rejection of Jesus.
Ambrose of Milan:
The Jews are the most worthless of all men. They are lecherous, greedy, rapacious. They are perfidious murderers of Christ. They worship the Devil. Their religion is a sickness. The Jews are the odious assassins of Christ and for killing God there is no expiation possible, no indulgence or pardon. Christians may never cease vengeance, and the Jew must live in servitude forever. God always hated the Jews. It is essential that all Christians hate them.
Gregory of Nyssa:
Jews are slayers of the Lord, murderers of the prophets, enemies and haters of God, adversaries of grace, enemies of their fathers’ faith, advocates of the devil, a brood of vipers, slanderers, scoffers, men of darkened minds, the leaven of Pharisees, a congregation of demons, sinners, wicked men, haters of goodness!
Jerome:
If you call it [a synagogue] a brothel, a den of vice, the Devil's refuge, Satan's fortress, a place to deprave the soul, an abyss of every conceivable disaster or whatever you will, you are still saying less than it deserves.
John Chrysostom:
Are they not inveterate murderers, destroyers, men possessed by the devil? Jews are impure and impious, and their synagogue is a house of prostitution, a lair of beasts, a place of shame and ridicule, the domicile of the devil, as is the soul of the Jew. As a matter of fact, Jews worship the devil; their rites are criminal and unchaste; their religion a disease; their synagogue an assembly of crooks, a den of thieves, a cavern of devils, an abyss of perdition!
Augustine of Hippo:
Judaism, since Christ, is a corruption; indeed, Judas is the image of the Jewish people: their understanding of Scripture is carnal; they bear the guilt for the death of the Savior, for through their fathers they have killed Christ. The Jews held Him; the Jews insulted Him; the Jews bound Him; they crowned Him with thorns; they scourged Him; they hanged Him upon a tree.
Origen:
The blood of Jesus falls not only on the Jews of that time, but on all generations of Jews up to the end of the world.
Thomas of Cantimpré:
It is quite certain that the Jews of every province annually decide by lot which congregation or city is to send Christian blood to the other congregations.
Peter the Venerable:
Truly, I doubt whether a Jew can be really human. I lead out from its den a monstrous animal, and show it as a laughing stock in the amphitheater of the world, in the sight of all the people. I bring thee forward, thou Jew, thou brute beast, in the sight of all men.
Pope Clement VIII:
All the world suffers from the usury of the Jews, their monopolies and deceit. They have brought many unfortunate people into a state of poverty, especially the farmers, working class people and the very poor. Then, as now, Jews have to be reminded intermittently that they were enjoying rights in any country since they left Palestine and the Arabian desert, and subsequently their ethical and moral doctrines as well as their deeds rightly deserve to be exposed to criticism in whatever country they happen to live.
Martin Luther:
Therefore know, my dear Christian, that next to the Devil you have no more bitter, more poisonous, more vehement an enemy than a real Jew who earnestly desires to be a Jew.