How I Became A Judeophile
William Keith Moffat
Philosemitism, also called Judeophilia, is “defense, love, or admiration of Jews and Judaism”. Such attitudes can be found in Western cultures across the centuries. The term originated in the nineteenth century by self-described German antisemites to describe their non-Jewish opponents (Wikipedia, “Philosemitism”).
That definition pretty much describes me, so how did I get there?
A Solid Grounding in The Holy Bible Since Early Childhood
First, I had the wonderful privilege of growing up in an evangelical Christian home and attending a Bible teaching fundamentalist, dispensational local Church. I know, I know… both those words—fundamentalist and dispensation—have fallen on hard times of late. So let me give a basic definition of each and you can decide if they are unworthy. First, a fundamentalist Christian is radically different than a fundamentalist Muslim! A fundamentalist Christian believes that the Bible is the word of God and that the doctrines it teaches are absolutely true. Since he believes in Heaven and Hell, then evangelism is the fruit of his worldview. Jew or Gentile, we are all sinners who need Jesus Christ to be our Savior. But you are free to disagree.
What about dispensationalism? Essentially there are two views within Christendom—Dispensationalism and Covenant Theology. Dispensationalism teaches that God has carries out His redemptive agenda differently in the different ages of the Earth. A dispensationalist reads the entire Holy Bible as normal literature, including the prophetic portions. The result of such a reading is the understanding that Israel and the Church are separate entities with ongoing distinct roles in God’s sovereign plans. A covenant theologian reads most of the Scriptures normally, but spiritualizes Israel’s blessed future to be referring to the Church. According to most covenant theologians, the “best before” date of the Jewish nation has expired and the Church is the new Israel of God. This view is called supercessionism or replacement theology.
I grew up nurtured in the Scriptures according to dispensational teachings. I remember one minister in particular, with great fondness and gratitude. Pastor Dee was an American, and during WW II, was a belly-turret gunner in a B17 bomber. He was blown out of that ball-turret and spent the rest of the war as a prisoner of the Nazis. What a teacher he was. He didn’t try to psychologically manipulate our emotions, but taught the history and prophecy of the Holy Bible using charts. Since my childhood, the only doctrine that I have jettisoned is “the gap theory” which tried to explain all the fossils as coming from the death and destruction of a pre-Adamic race (It was an abortive attempt to meld together evolution and theology).
An Early Introduction to Critical Thinking—That Has Lasted a Lifetime
Now someone might say: “Ahah, you believe as you do about the Jews because you were taught that way as a child.” Not at all. My mother would send me to public school with the following instructions: “Billy, you respect your teachers, but some of them don’t love Jesus, so check out what they teach you against the Bible.” You will admit, that such a task—straining everything through Scripture—is a pretty heavy burden for an eight-year-old boy. But such critical thinking was just the exercise my brain needed, and it carried over into other areas, including theology. A sound mind also protected me in university from the godless, secular views and immorality of those who don’t know God. Surprisingly, my biblical faith came under some of the greatest assaults in seminary. I wrote a paper on “The Ethnographic Corroborating Evidence of Noah’s Universal Flood”. Hundreds of cultures all over the world have a distant memory of surviving a flood on a boat. The professor’s response: “Will, I am concerned that you are not letting the seminary change your views on the Bible and theology.” How’s that for a transparent attack on one’s faith?
A Life-Time of Loving to Read & Research
A public-school librarian, an old spinster nobody else liked, tricked this grade 5 student into doing personal study by letting me research whatever topic I wanted (though, after three school projects on horses, she suggested that I broaden my horizons.). I still thank God for her. Our school libraries had all kinds of books on Israel, and as a little boy I was enthralled as I read about the Jewish War of Independence (1948-9), the Six Day War (1967), and the Yom Kippur War (1973). I also began reading evangelical books about the doctrine of Israel. At first these were “safe” dispensational books. But as I got older, I discovered that the “safe” view, taught to me as a child in my local church and in Bible College, was actually the minority view in Christendom. But I was firmly convinced that if one’s beliefs are true, then they can withstand cross-examination. So, I prayed and asked God to protect my heart and mind and reveal falsehoods as I read many non-dispensational books and academic papers. Some of my conclusions are scattered throughout The Tents of Shem, including an appendix that examines the covenants of covenant theology.
Maybe you are looking for good books (in addition to The Tents of Shem) to inform your biblical faith. The following is a short list of edifying books that I have profited by. Some are secular and some are Christian; the Christian works take the Bible at face value:
The Holy Bible. My version preferences are the NKJV and the HCSB. Of course, the Scriptures head the list of books. The fastest way to shipwreck your faith is to read theology books without first immersing yourself in the Scriptures. Many people have gone straight from university to seminary without actually having studied the Bible itself and, consequently, have left the faith. Do you want to know all of what God thinks of the Jews? Then go to the source. I would suggest that you stay away from Study Bibles, all of which have their own biases. Trust the Holy Spirit to teach you from the plain text of the Scriptures. Study Bibles have their place, but only after you have read the Scriptures for yourself.
Diprose, Ronald E. Israel and the Church: The Origin and Effects of Replacement Theology. Waynesboro, GA: Authentic Media, 2004.
Gilbert, Martin. Churchill and The Jews. Toronto, Canada: McClelland & Stewart, 2007. One of Churchill’s generals stated: “Even Winston has a problem; he loves the Jews too much.”
Guttenplan, D. D. The Holocaust on Trial. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company, 2002. Covers the David Irving Libel Case in England against American journalist, Deborah Lipstadt who exposed Irving for trying to distance Adolf Hitler from the Holocaust.
Horner, Barry E. Future Israel: Why Christian Anti-Judaism Must Be Challenged. Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Academic, 2007, 2023. If you read just one book (other than The Holy Bible) on the Jews, make it this one. It is not a biblical theology of the Jews like The Tents of Shem, that is, Future Israel won’t take you cover-to-cover through the Scriptures. But it is an excellent apologetic for pro-Judaism.
Larsen, David. Jews, Gentiles & The Church: A New Perspective on History & Prophecy. Grand Rapids, MI: Discovery House, 1995. This is the book on the Jews that I cut my teeth on; it contains both Biblical and historical insights.
Oren, Michael B. Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East. New York, NY: Ballantine Books, 2003.
Parkes, James. The Conflict of the Church and the Synagogue: A Study in the Origins of Antisemitism. New York: Atheneum, 1934. For years I had wondered if there was a link between replacement theology (that teaches that the Jews are no longer the Chosen People) and antisemitism. Then in a seminary library I stumbled across Parkes’ book that covers the relationship of the Church with the Jews until AD 800. I don’t know that Parkes is evangelical, but it was a life-changing read and confirmed my suspicions. This is the work that ignited my desire to teach the Church to love the Jewish race.
Rabinovich, Abraham. The Yom Kippur War: The Epic Encounter That Transformed The Middle East. New York, NY: Schocken Books, 2004.
Senor, Dan and Saul Singer. Start-Up Nation: The Story of Israel’s Economic Miracle. Toronto, Canada: McClelland & Stewart, 2009. The biblical promise that the Jews would be a blessing to the world was not exhausted in the Person of Jesus Christ; they are still blessing the world.
That is enough of a list to get you started on your own reading plan about the Jews and Israel.
An Opportunity to Visit Israel and to Get to Know the People For Myself
The author with IDF soldiers at Yad Vashem (The Holocaust Museum) in Jerusalem
Some Christian friends attended our home Bible study on Israel. The husband asked me if I had ever been to Israel. I confessed that I had never had that opportunity. But I also told him that I didn’t really need to physically visit Eretz Israel to love the Jews, because the Scriptures were sufficient to teach me to love the Jews. He agreed, but told me that he and his wife would like to take my wife, Debbie, and myself to Israel with them. We accepted their offer with one condition: Make sure the tour is with a pro-Zionist organization. Be warned; there are many tours of Israel conducted through mainline Churches that are pro-Arab and anti-Zionist. A perusal of the trip itinerary is usually enough to know whether the tour will confirm God’s Zionist plans.
Dave and Barb did take us to Israel and it was a great trip conducted with a pro-Zionist agenda. Instead of touring medieval churches, we toured a Jewish kibbutz and visited with Holocaust survivors. I walked through ankle-deep water through King Hezekiah’s tunnel that he used to bring water into Jerusalem during a siege thousands of years ago. From our hotel balcony, one could hear the missiles of Israel’s “Iron Dome” protecting her citizens from modern enemies. We had dinner with the Druze, Arabs who are citizens of Israel. We saw how the Jews have made the desert bloom, as contrasted with the unproductive lands of Syria and Jordan, visible across the border. At Yad Vashem (The Holocaust Museum), we met young Jewish men who had come to Israel from all over the world to join the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF); they knew that they were the thin red line that protected Israel from another Holocaust. I chatted with Jews, showing them from their own Scriptures, that the Gentiles will come pouring into Jerusalem to worship their Messiah in His rebuilt Temple someday; they couldn’t believe that a Christian would look forward to participating in their future.
Do you need to go to Israel to learn how to love Jews? Of course not. But I would recommend it (Again, with a pro-Jewish tour). It was particularly beneficial for me because I have always lived in rural areas where Jews are few and far between. But if you live in any urban center in North America, there is bound to be a Jewish synagogue nearby and Gentiles are welcome at many of their celebrations. Just ask; Jews often feel alone and isolated in the world, so they would welcome your friendship, so long as it is sincere and does not come with strings attached (i.e.: conversion to Christianity). Don’t get me wrong; share your faith as you are able. Just don’t make your friendship conditional upon a positive response.
A Commitment to Loving Who God Loves
After all is said and done, a Christian is not someone who just asks Jesus to be their Savior and then otherwise believes and lives independent of God’s opinions and plans. The Apostle Paul told the Philippian Church: “Let this mind be in you, that was also in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5). His immediate application was personal humility and living for others. But the principle is equally applicable to any topic that God has revealed his mind about.
You cannot read God’s self-revelation (The Holy Bible) without discovering that God loves the Jews. He has committed Himself to them through unilateral, unconditional, redemptive covenants. The Jews have a checkered history, no doubt about it. But their lackluster performance does not inform God’s opinion of them. His positional promises to them determine their destiny instead. Read the Hebrew prophets; every time they castigate Israel for their sins, they also promise a permanently blessed future beyond the temporal punishment that they will receive. No other nationality possesses God’s covenant promise that they will be revived after they fall.
Many Christians begin well in their opinion of the Jews. But they get disheartened when Jews do not respond well to their presentation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Christians forget that the Jews as a whole were blinded for our sakes. Consequently, only a remnant will believe until the fulness of the Gentiles believes and are removed in the Rapture.
One falls in love with people by learning their story, warts and all. We need to learn the story of the Jews from the Scriptures to learn of God’s committed love for them. We also need to learn their story from history to appreciate what they have suffered at the hands of those who say they love Jesus. Then you will understand why most Jews have no use for Him. Do you know the first thing the Crusaders did after conquering Jerusalem? They filled a synagogue full of Jews, set it on fire, and marched around it, singing a hymn of adoration to Christ. Volume 2 of The Tents of Shem contains an extensive appendix of Jewish/Christian relations over the past two millennia, both the good and the bad.
In the final analysis, only a commitment to God’s perspective on the Jews will sustain my own love for them:
Jesus asks Peter, ‘Lovest thou Me?’ then He says, ‘Feed My sheep.’ It is not [Peter’s] love to the sheep that will sustain Peter in feeding them. It is the fact that they are Christ’s sheep. It is not because the sheep are lovable that his interest in them will continue. It is because Christ is lovable. Likewise, unless you believe that Israel is God’s nation, and your interest is based on the Word of God, your efforts to evangelize among Israel will soon languish, and your patience will be exhausted” (David Baron. Israel’s Inalienable Possessions).
And so, a passion for the Jews and for the fulfillment of their covenant promises must have its grounds in and be fueled by Biblical theology about the Jews. Paul has not given up on his own people because the Apostle knew that “the gifts and calling of God towards them are without repentance.” God will not change his mind and is fully committed to keeping His Jewish agenda. Therefore, the Apostle Paul had aligned his passions with the Jewish people as well, no matter how badly they treated him when he presented the claims of Yeshua.
Jesus, knowing that He would be crucified within a week, did not say, “Goodbye” to Jerusalem; instead, He said, “I’ll see you later”:
37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! 38 See! Your house is left to you desolate; 39 for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ ” (Matthew 23:37-39).
How important is Scripture? Jesus quotes it! Here He is quoting from a Messianic Psalm that anticipates the Messiah being welcomed to Jerusalem: “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! We have blessed you from the house of the Lord” (Psalm 118:26). Jesus has unfinished business with Jerusalem and the Jews. The first time He came to earth, “He came to His own [possessions] and His own [people] did not welcome Him” (John 1:11). But their Messiah remains committed to the Jews, and anticipates a warm welcome from them on His return. My Savior’s attitude towards Israel informs my opinion of them.