Anti-Semitism Foretold in Scripture

Hatred of the Jews is so common that a word has been coined to describe it.  It is called “anti-Semitism”—a term recognized worldwide.  But was hatred of the Jews actually foretold in the Bible?

Yes.  According to the prophet Jeremiah, God said,

“‘I will make them hated by all the kingdoms of the earth. People will curse them . . .’”

—Jeremiah 29:18 NCV

Is there any other nationality that has been the object of such hostility and disdain everywhere?  The Irish have experienced poor treatment at the hands of the English, but the Irish are not looked down upon elsewhere. Koreans have been slighted in Japan, but don’t face similar prejudice elsewhere. Blacks have been discriminated against in the American South, but are not universally scorned worldwide.

Yet the Jews have faced pogroms in Russia, expulsion from Spain, expulsion from ancient Rome, and expulsion from other nations.  When the Apostle Paul was in Corinth, Greece, he met a Jewish Christian couple named Priscilla and Aquila, “who had recently come from Italy . . . because [Emperor] Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome.” (Acts 18:2 NIV)  Between the years 1182 and 1394, various French kings expelled the Jews from their domains on multiple occasions.  British King Edward I expelled all the Jews from England in the year 1290, and they were not officially readmitted until 1656.  In 1492, the same year Christopher Columbus arrived at North America, the royal couple who commissioned his journey of exploration—Ferdinand and Isabella—expelled all the Jews from Spain.  Dozens of other nations and jurisdictions have driven out their Jewish populations over the centuries.

The Jewish people have faced discrimination in America, persecution in Europe, as well as universal hostility worldwide.

Is that simply a coincidence? Or, is it a fulfillment of Bible prophecy?

As discussed elsewhere in this book, prophecies in both the Old Testament and the New Testament foretold that the Jewish people would be uprooted from their homeland and scattered worldwide:

“But it shall come about, if you do not obey the LORD your God . . . the LORD will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth.”

—Deuteronomy 28:15, 64 NASB

The Jews would be scattered worldwide according to the prophecies—only to be re-gathered to the land of Israel shortly before the end of the world.  But what would happen to them in the meantime?  The same prophecies also speak about the circumstances the Jews would face during the years of their dispersion among the nations.

Moses foretold that the rest of the people of the world would be hostile toward the Jews, making fun of them, ridiculing them and mocking them:

“You will become an object of horror, ridicule, and mockery among all the nations to which the LORD sends you.”

—Deuteronomy 28:37 NLT

And the passage from Jeremiah partially quoted above explains that God told the prophet,

“‘I will pursue them with the sword, famine and plague and will make them abhorrent to all the kingdoms of the earth and an object of cursing and horror, of scorn and reproach, among all the nations where I drive them.’”

—Jeremiah 29:18 NIV

Because their ancestors disregarded God and refused to obey him, the Jews faced a great Tribulation of hostility and persecution lasting many centuries.

Is there a lesson in this for the rest of us? The Apostle Paul wrote concerning “the severity of God” in punishing his Chosen People. (Romans 11:22 NIV) Scripture also foretells that he will soon redeem them and punish those who mistreated them, bringing judgment against the rest of mankind. Now is the time to repent.