A Jewish Rabbi Challenges Whether Ancient History Supports The Biblical Account Of The Exodus And Why Blacks In America Should Be Interested In The Controversy (Part 4)

Next week we will get into the aspects of the conspiracy against the Children Of Israel. Now, think over something from Minister Jabril Muhammad's This Is The One now available in E-Book form. On page 111 he writes:

"Consider the following:

'of the life and career of Moses there is no Egyptian record at all; there is no account of any plagues of Egypt or of any pharaoh who was drowned in the Red Sea.'(The Outline of History by H.G. Wells, Vol. I page 206.)

"By no means was H.G. Wells the only white scholar to point out that the Jews did not serve in Egypt 400 years as slaves. Read the argument of Jesus against their claim to be Abraham's seed in the 8th chapter of John."

We will follow Minister Jabril Muhammad's advice by looking at part of the 8th Chapter of John from a few different translations. Here from the NIV translation:

John 8
31
To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.
32
Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
33
They answered him, "We are Abraham's descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free


From the King James version:

8:31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
8:33 They answered him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou *, Ye shall be made free?

From The New American Standard:

John 8:31
So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, "If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine;

John 8:32
and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free."

John 8:33
They answered Him, "We are Abraham's descendants and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, 'You will become free'?"

From The Revised Standard Version:

John 8
31
Jesus then said to the Jews who had believed in him, "If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples,
32
and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free."
33
They answered him, "We are descendants of Abraham, and have never been in bondage to any one. How is it that you say, 'You will be made free'?"


We end with question : Does the response of the Jews, to Jesus, that they were never enslaved provide evidence that helps to verify Rabbi David Wolpe's opinion that there is no evidence that the Jews fulfilled Genesis 15:13-14 by living what was written in the book of Exodus. What of what H.G. Wells wrote, which was quoted in the book This Is The One?

How should Black pastors, who preach in the name of Jesus handle this?

Finally, consider this from a recent article in The Philadelphia Inquirer:

Leading a mission to alter Bible phrase that can hurt

Local man finds the portrayal of the Jewish people offensive.

Irvin J. Borowsky said New Testament depictions of Jews surprised him.

By David O'Reilly
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

"So, because Jesus was doing [healings] on the Sabbath, the Jews persecuted him. . . . For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him."

John 5:16-18 (New International Version)

The Jews.

It is a term that appears 195 times in the New Testament.

And ever since the early Christian era, Jews striving to comprehend their persecution by Crusaders, Cossacks, Nazis or village thugs have lamented their New Testament portrait as Christ-killers.

"After this, Jesus traveled in Galilee, since He did not want to travel in Judea because the Jews were trying to kill Him." (John 7:1, Holman Christian Standard Bible).

But unlike the millions who have shrugged off - or suffered under - the New Testament image of "the Jews," Irvin J. Borowsky is on a campaign to rid the Good Book of its dark depiction of his people.

A retired magazine publisher and founder of the Liberty Museum in Old City, Borowsky has for 19 years been urging Bible publishers to find other ways to translate the Greek hoi Ioudaioi - literally, "the Jews."

The New Testament was written in Greek. Hoi Ioudaioi (pronounced hoy yu-dye-yoy) appears 151 times in John and Acts, often referring to enemies of Jesus.

"The New Testament has led to the murder of one out of two Jews in history, all based on the idea that Jews killed Jesus," said Borowsky, 76. "But Jesus was a Jew. His disciples were Jews, and so were all his early followers."

Borowsky began his campaign in 1982 after finding a Gideon Bible in the dresser of a Chicago hotel room. Leafing through its New Testament, he encountered images of Jews that he said left him "rather shocked."

Though not a particularly observant Jew, he soon created the American Interfaith Institute, dedicated to "rethinking relationships among Protestants, Catholics and Jews."

Through books, international symposiums, and a scholarly newsletter, the institute, based at the Liberty Museum, proposes that hoi Ioudaioi be translated not as "the Jews" but with equivalents drawn from the scriptural context, such as "the people" or "the religious leaders" or "some Jews."

Read the entire article over and think deeply into how it connects with what we have been writing in this series

Cedric Muhammad

Sunday, August 12, 2001