The story about the Jewish people is very strange, special and dramatic. What ever they have done and are doing, they always are in focus of the rest of the world. It is impossible for them to hide away. All the time they are forced to experience that they are not an ordinary people. God makes this clear to them, through these words: «WHEN YOU SAY TO YOURSELVES, ´LET US BECOME LIKE THE NATIONS AND TRIBES OF OTHER LANDS … YOU ARE THINKING OF SOMETHING THAT CAN NEVER BE … I will reign over you with a strong hand … and wrath outpoured. I will bring you out from the peoples and gather you from the lands over which you have been scattered by my strong hand …” Ezek.20,32-34.
Their terrible enemy, the Agagite Haman, makes the differences between Jews and other peoples, quite clear in the book of Esther: «There is a certain people, dispersed among the many peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom, who keep themselves apart. Their laws are different from those of every other people; they do not keep your majesty’s laws. It does not benefit your majesty to tolerate them. If it please your majesty, let an order be made in writing for their destruction …» 3,8-9. God saved them through queen Esther, that time. But in many other cases, there was no one to save them.
The Jews can never be like the rest of the humanity. They will always be different. Even how much they should try to be like other nations, they will never succeed in this. For the Lord out there has made it clear that he will not allow it. And this fact which is quite obvious to the whole humanity, is also a sign that shows how reliable the Bible is.
Today the Jews are back in their country quite in accordance with following prophecy: «It shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon you … the curse which I have set before you … then the Lord your God will turn your captivity, and have compassion upon you, and will return and gather you from all the nations, in which the Lord has scattered you.» Deut.30,1.3. And I really believe this is one of the biggest reasons of the world´s anger towards them – namely that the fulfillment of the biblical prophecies makes them a living evidence of the Bible´s credibility.
WHY THE JEWS ARE REJECTING JESUS AS THEIR MESSIAH.
Two thousand years ago they fostered the man whose story changed great parts of the world. To the at least two billion peoples who believe in Jesus, he is the king of the Jews and their Messiah. But even if Jesus is the most famous Jew who has ever lived, the Jewish religion is rejecting him. This is very strange, since the Christians find such an abundance of Bible texts which prove Jesus to be the biblical Messiah. But the prophecies that convince the Christians do not at all convince the Jewish people.
The fact that Judaism rejects Jesus as their Messiah, is however also an important evidence of the Bible´s credibility. For the Bible itself predicts that exactly this should happen: “IN SPITE OF THE MANY SIGNS WHICH JESUS HAD PERFORMED IN THEIR PRECENCE THEY WOULD NOT BELIEVE IN HIM, for the prophet Isaiah´s utterance had to be fulfilled … THEY COULD NOT BELIEVE, FOR … GOD HAS BLINDED THEIR EYES AND DULLED THEIR MINDS, LEST THEY SHOULD SEE WITH THEIR EYES, AND PERCEIVE WITH THEIR MINDS, AND TURN TO ME TO HEAL THEM.” John 12,37-40.
Isaiah here makes it clear that it is not the Jews´ fault that they do not believe in Jesus. They in fact can not believe because God himself has blinded them. But some day he himself will remove their blindness.
THE TRIBE OF JUDAH IS SLEEPING. WHO DARE TO ROUSE THEM?
The name of Judah means something like famous or prized. Jacob, his father, gave this interesting prophecy about his son: “Judah is a lion´s whelp … he stooped down, he couched … as an old lion; WHO SHALL ROUSE HIM UP?” Gen.49,9. Judah in ancient time was like a young and strong lion. But later in history they “stooped down” like an old lion and fell asleep. “Who will dare to rouse him up”, says the Norwegian Bible. The statement indicates that their awakening can be dangerous to the world.
In year 70 their land was destroyed and their temple burnt down. They were hunted away from their country and were handed over to terrible punishments. They really became like an old lion that stooped down.
Balaam, the apostate prophet who met the Israelites in the desert, was forced by God to bring some true prophecies about the Israelites. The fact that Balaam nearly literally repeats Jacob´s prophecy about Judah, shows that it in reality is the Jews he is speaking of. He says: “When he reclines he couches like a lion … and no one dares to rouse him.” Numb.24,9. Balaam´s prophecies point down to the last time of history, for he says to the king of Moab: “I will advertise thee what this people shall do to thy people in the latter days.” Numb.24,14. With other words – both the Israelites and the descendants of Moab are existing in the end time.
The Jewish people lost their land and was treated in a terrible way by the whole world. The strong lion surely stooped down and fell asleep. But some day someone will wake him up: “No one dares to rouse him.” “Who shall rouse him up?” Their awakening will change the whole world history: “According to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, What hath God wrought! Behold, THE PEOPLE SHALL RISE UP AS A GREAT LION, AND LIFT UP HIMSELF AS A YOUNG LION: HE SHALL NOT LIE DOWN UNTIL HE EAT OF THE PREY, AND DRINK THE BLOOD OF THE SLAIN (let everybody understand that this is a figurative describing).” Numb.23,23-24.
When will the Jewish people rise up as a lion? «The Israelites shall live many a long day without king or prince … but after that they will again seek their God and David their king (Jesus, the king of the Jews), and turn anxiously to the Lord for his bounty in the latter days.» Hos.3,4-5.
