Old Testament: A Window Into the Soul of Israel

by Bob Johnson

To better understand Israel and its arrogant aggression against Gentiles and to better defend ourselves from that aggression we need to learn how Israel’s leaders think. The best way to do that is to look at Israel’s de facto founding document, the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament. (Israel is much more a theocracy than a democracy as its lack of a constitution makes evident.) Even though there are serious questions about the people who are today known as Jews being the same people who wrote the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, the fact remains that regardless of the correct answer to that question, Jews of today lay claim to being the “chosen people” of the Bible with Israel as their homeland and they act accordingly. The fact that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu openly states that despite international law keeping Jerusalem as an open city and NOT the capital of Israel that Jerusalem is Israel’s capital and has been for 3,000 years makes it very clear that present day Israel is based on the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament.

A large part of Jewish arrogance and false sense of divine right to rule over Gentiles is found at Deuteronomy 7:6 which claims that God chose the Hebrews/Jews “above all people that are upon the face of the earth.” Anyone who believes nonsense like this about themselves and their people are bound to act out on this myth. And any action which is based on such vile nonsense cannot be for the good of humanity.

It’s interesting that the lines between God, the son of God and Israel are blurred. For example the Jewish columnist Dov Shurin writes that Judaism teaches Israel itself is the son of God. And Numbers 31:1-2 states that God told Moses to “avenge the children of Israel of the Midianites” and the next verse states that Moses ordered the Hebrews/Jews to “Avenge the LORD of Midian.” This seems to blend Israel with God.

When we see Israeli atrocities like the slaughter of American sailors and Marines during the Jewish state’s unprovoked sneak attack on the USS Liberty, or the murder of American peace activist Rachel Corrie, or the periodic slaughter of Palestinian men, women and children and the taking of their land, we wonder how could a nation be so bloodthirsty and aggressive. To get an answer and an understanding of Israeli thought in regards to these and other similar war crimes committed by Israel we need to look no further than their Hebrew Bible/Old Testament. One glaring example is found at Numbers 31:17-18 is of Moses ordering the Israelite army to commit genocide and mass rape of children. Moses ordered , “Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him. But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.” Verse 35 informs us the number of “women children” the Hebrews/Jews kept alive for themselves was 32,000!

Since it’s obvious from the above orders for genocide and mass rape of children that the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament is not concerned with the well-being of Gentiles, it is not surprising that it also instructs Hebrews/Jews to only own Gentile people as slaves. Leviticus 25:1-43 is the famous jubilee in which it is stated that God ordered the Hebrews/Jews to “proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.” On the surface this sound very good. However, reading verses 44-46 we see freedom is not intended for the heathens/Gentiles or their/our children since these verses teach the Jews/Hebrews, “Both thy bondmen, and thy bondmaids, which thou shalt have, shall be of the heathen that are round about you; of them shall ye buy bondmen and bondmaids. Moreover of the children of the strangers that do sojourn among you, of them shall ye buy, and of their families that are with you, which they begat in your land: and they shall be your possession. And ye shall take them as an inheritance for your children after you, to inherit them for a possession; they shall be your bondmen for ever: but over your brethren the children of Israel, ye shall not rule one over another with rigour.” With teachings, beliefs and ideas like this, it is not too difficult to understand the thought processes that are going on in Israeli government.

When we see or hear of Palestinian children being shot or beat by Israeli occupation forces we should reflect on their “holy” book’s teaching at Psalm 137:9 which reads, “Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones.” With beliefs like this Israeli war crimes against children become easier to understand, yet still completely unacceptable.

As I wrote in Deism: A Revolution in Religion, A Revolution in You (for the Nook edition click here and for the Kindle edition click here) the American founder and Deist Thomas Paine completely rejected the central idea of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament which is God chose the Hebrews/Jews “above all people that are upon the face of the earth.” One Bible story which Thomas Paine addressed in his landmark book on God, Deism and religion, The Age of Reason, The Complete Edition (for Kindle edition click here), which made him realize that the Jews/Hebrews are NOT God’s chosen people is found at II Kings 15:16 which tells the story of a king of Israel named Menahem who butchered everyone in the city of Tiphsah, even ripping the unborn babies from their mothers’ wombs. After mentioning this grotesque account of the Jewish war criminals, Paine wrote in The Age of Reason, The Complete Edition (for Kindle edition click here), “Could we permit ourselves to suppose that the Almighty would distinguish any nation of people by the name of His chosen people, we must suppose that people to have been an example to all the rest of the world of the purest piety and humanity, and not such a nation of ruffians and cut-throats as the ancient Jews were; a people who, corrupted by and copying after such monsters and imposters as Moses and Aaron, Joshua, Samuel and David, had distinguished themselves above all others on the face of the known earth for barbarity and wickedness.

“If we will not stubbornly shut our eyes and steel our hearts, it is impossible not to see, in spite of all that long-established superstition imposes upon the mind, that the flattering appellation of His chosen people is no other than a lie which the priests and leaders of the Jews had invented to cover the baseness of their own characters, and which Christian priests, sometimes as corrupt and often as cruel, have professed to believe.”

Using the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament to determine what the leaders of nuclear armed Israel believes should happen to Gentile nations which refuse to submit themselves to Israel’s demands all we need to do is look at Isaiah 60:12. This Bible verse is free of the ambiguity which most of the Bible suffers from. This verse clearly states, “For the nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted.” In regards to America, currently Israel is only able to “waste” via the over powerful  Israel lobby political careers of US politicians who dare to go against the Jewish state. However, their stock-piles of weapons of mass destruction are continuing to grow and their submarine fleet which can deliver their WMD from virtually anywhere on the planet continues to grow. And their Hebrew Bible/Old Testament promoted world view of Jewish superiority makes makes all of this a very real threat to the world.

Bob Johnson

Bob Johnson is a freelance writer in the Tampa area of Florida. He was raised Roman Catholic, but after a stint in Marine Corps infantry and reading Thomas Paine’s The Age of Reason he became a Deist.

In 1993 he founded the World Union of Deists, and in 1996 he launched the first website devoted to Deism. He is the author of God Gave Us Reason, Not Religion, Deism: A Revolution in Religion, A Revolution in You and An Answer to C.S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity. He has also written the introduction to Thomas Paine’s The Age of Reason, The Complete Edition and Principles of Nature by Elihu Palmer.