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Are the Jews the Chosen People?
Townhall.com ^ | May 17, 2011 | Dennis Prager

Posted on 05/17/2011 8:06:47 AM PDT by Kaslin

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To: DManA

“Then why the emphasis on genealogies in the Bible?”

Genealogies define “family lineage” and not necessarily “race”, for more than one “race” may be in that lineage.


101 posted on 05/17/2011 12:26:35 PM PDT by Wuli
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To: phillyfanatic
Yep, another biased belief and that’s just the way things are.

Indeed.


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102 posted on 05/17/2011 12:30:43 PM PDT by rdb3 (Knowledge without God only produces intellectual barbarians.)
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To: dennisw
Yes, and nice-looking women.

Do you really want a picture of a building or boat in Eliat?


103 posted on 05/17/2011 12:42:42 PM PDT by Jewbacca (The residents of Iroquois territory may not determine whether Jews may live in Jerusalem.)
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To: DManA
“Racially what is the difference between an Arab and an ethnic Jew?”

"Racially" not much.

104 posted on 05/17/2011 12:48:44 PM PDT by Wuli
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To: NEW YORKCITYGOPMAN

Thanks for the laugh.

Either you are Jewish or the joke was first told by someone who is.


105 posted on 05/17/2011 12:51:37 PM PDT by Wuli
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To: shield
Ruth was an Israelite

But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God."

Kind of an odd thing for an Israelite, who already shared a people and a God with Naomi, to say. But perfectly logical for a Moabite woman. It was her announcement of conversion.

The Bible has nothing at all that indicates in its text that Ruth wasn't a "real" Moabite. It just says she was a Moabite. Where do you get your information

.so was Rahab. Rahab was also an inn keeper not a harlot.

I'll give you the not harlot bit, although the Hebrew is at best ambiguous.

But what exactly was an Israelite woman doing running an inn in a Canaanite city when the Israelites had just come out of the desert.

There is also the fairly obvious fact that Joshua made a specific exception for Rahab's entire family from being destroyed. Would seem less necessary for him to do so it they had been Israelites rather than Canaanites. Also seems like he would have mentioned such a striking fact in his proclamation. Like, "Don't kill the people in Rahab's house, they're all Israelites."

The Bible doesn't allow much justification of ethnic pride. For instance, Moses' wife was a Cushite, which probably means what we would call black.

Moses' wife Miriam got racist about this, and God struck her with leprosy as a punishment. God apparently doesn't approve of racism, even by his chosen people.

Also, during the Exodus "a great mixed company" accompanied the children of Israel. When they entered the Promised Land there is no mention of them. The obvious conclusion is they were fully assimilated during the 40 years in the desert.

106 posted on 05/17/2011 1:12:12 PM PDT by Sherman Logan
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To: Sherman Logan

You happen to have it wrong especially on Miriam and Moses’ wife. Miriam did have the wrong attitude but not for the reason you think you know. There were important reasons for Jesus to have been born through a pure line of Israelites...and your deduction on Ruth blows that aspect apart.


107 posted on 05/17/2011 1:35:00 PM PDT by shield (Rev2:9 "Woe unto those who say they are Judah and are not, but are of the synaGOGue of Satan.")
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To: Sherman Logan

Biblically, the Jewish people must trace their lineage back to all three patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. From a Biblical point of view, Jewish geneologies are paternally determined as opposed to other methods developed by the Jewish people over the centuries, such as a Jewish person is so if his/her mother is Jewish, if he/she is a gentile (non-Jew) cultural ‘proselyte’, etc. If a male Israelite married a Moabitess, for example Boaz marrying Ruth, their offspring were 100% Jewish, in Scripture.

Again, biblically, Jewish people are so because of their pedigree which must include Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Most Jewish tribal geneologies were lost after the destruction of Jerusalem, 70 CE, although surnames such as “Levy, Levi, Cohen,” etc. point to the Levitical tribe.

Scripture clearly delineates between 2 sets of people in 2 different ways:

Jews
non-Jews (goyim, gentiles)

believers, God-fearers
nonbelievers, pagans, apostates

One can be Jewish and a God-fearer
One can be Jewish and a nonbeliever (atheist, agnostic, etc.)
One cannot be Jewish and gentile (*biblically speaking only* where the father determines lineage)

Oh, and since many of the prophecies have not yet been fulfilled for Israel, God is NOT finished with His chosen people. God is always, always, always a promise-keeper, though His timetable out-spans our brief lifetimes. Beware reformed theology that “spiritualizes” away all the promises for Israel in the Tenach by suggesting “Israel” = the Church.

“Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks (gentiles), OR the church of God.” 1 Cor. 10:32


108 posted on 05/17/2011 1:41:49 PM PDT by Ironist
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To: shield
There were important reasons for Jesus to have been born through a pure line of Israelites

Might be important, but it didn't happen. Let's leave aside all the unknown foreign wives that were never recorded.

The minimal record we have, mostly of the women in the royal line of his ancestry, indicates numerous Ammonite, Egyptian, Tyrian and other foreign mothers of the kings.

Christ's human ancestry, like that of every other person on the planet, was not "pure," it was thoroughly mixed.

The Israelites themselves were never a "pure" race, in fact their Law contained specific provisions for marrying foreign women captured in battle. As one example, Joseph married an Egyptian women. Therefore, his two eponymous sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, were half-Egyptian.

109 posted on 05/17/2011 1:51:45 PM PDT by Sherman Logan
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To: Ironist

Your post is almost 100% wrong.

The father determines the tribe, the mother whether one is Jewish or not.

A convert to Judaism is 100% Jewish, with the only restriction being a female convert cannot marry a Cohen (but her kids could).


110 posted on 05/17/2011 2:06:14 PM PDT by Jewbacca (The residents of Iroquois territory may not determine whether Jews may live in Jerusalem.)
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To: Ironist

Your post is almost 100% wrong.

The father determines the tribe, the mother whether one is Jewish or not.

A convert to Judaism is 100% Jewish, with the only restriction being a female convert cannot marry a Cohen (but her kids could).


111 posted on 05/17/2011 2:06:31 PM PDT by Jewbacca (The residents of Iroquois territory may not determine whether Jews may live in Jerusalem.)
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To: Ironist

“If a male Israelite married a Moabitess, for example Boaz marrying Ruth, their offspring were 100% Jewish, in Scripture.”

Only because Ruth converted.


112 posted on 05/17/2011 2:08:50 PM PDT by Jewbacca (The residents of Iroquois territory may not determine whether Jews may live in Jerusalem.)
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To: Kaslin

Yes.


113 posted on 05/17/2011 2:29:05 PM PDT by Liberty Valance (Keep a simple manner for a happy life :o)
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To: Sherman Logan

Joseph married Asenath her father was Pontipher the Priest of the City of ON which was built by Enoch. The Priest were from the line of Seth. This is the reason Jacob/Israel made both of Joseph and Asenath’s Sons a tribe because of their pure lineage. Joseph adhered strictly to the teachings of Jacob. Your deductions remind me of the universal church spoken of in Revelation.


114 posted on 05/17/2011 3:02:38 PM PDT by shield (Rev2:9 "Woe unto those who say they are Judah and are not, but are of the synaGOGue of Satan.")
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Berosus; bigheadfred; ColdOne; Convert from ECUSA; Delacon; ...

Just think how much trouble they’d be in if they weren’t, eh? Thanks Kaslin.


115 posted on 05/17/2011 3:08:56 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Thanks Cincinna for this link -- http://www.friendsofitamar.org)
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To: shield

Oh, dear.

Seth was the son of Adam and Even, an ancestor of Noah. Thus all living today are descended from him, since we are all descended from Noah. We are all of the line of Seth.

Enoch was the great-grandfather of Noah. Anything he built was obviously destroyed by the Flood.

Asenath means “holy to Anath,” a major Semitic goddess. There is absolutely no reason from the Biblical account to assume Potiphera (means “he whom Ra has given”) and his daughter were anything but the obvious, worshippers of pagan gods, although we can assume Asenath became a worshipper of the true God after her marriage.


116 posted on 05/17/2011 3:19:39 PM PDT by Sherman Logan
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To: dennisw; Cachelot; Nix 2; veronica; Catspaw; knighthawk; Alouette; Optimist; weikel; Lent; GregB; ..
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117 posted on 05/17/2011 4:14:57 PM PDT by SJackson (Normal people don't sit cross-legged on the floor and bang on drums, WI State Sen Glenn Grothman (R))
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To: Sherman Logan

Man of the Covenant Promise. As a friend of God and of man who implicitly trusted the divine promises,Abraham was the recipient of an important covenant involving not only himself but his posterity, natural as well as spiritual. The Abrahamic Covenant as originally given. [ Gen. 12;1-4]and reaffirmed [Gen.13;14-17] [Gen.15;1-7] Also read Genesis 12 on.This is why God chose the jews and God is sovereign.


118 posted on 05/17/2011 4:26:44 PM PDT by primrose (PRIMROSE)
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To: Jewbacca
I have heard it expressed that “converts” are not actually “converts” but Jewish people born to other families, for whatever reason. The deal was struck at Mt. Sinai with all future, present, and past Jewish souls.

Jewish souls finding their way back after what may or have not been a difficult geneological journey.

119 posted on 05/17/2011 4:28:42 PM PDT by SJackson (Normal people don't sit cross-legged on the floor and bang on drums, WI State Sen Glenn Grothman (R))
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To: DManA
So how would you respond specifically to Prager’s assertion: The Jews are not a race; there are Jews of every race.

Well, there are Jews of every races. A simple google search should clear that up for you.

120 posted on 05/17/2011 4:35:59 PM PDT by SJackson (Normal people don't sit cross-legged on the floor and bang on drums, WI State Sen Glenn Grothman (R))
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