A Second-Rate G-d

Trying to understand 'Greater Israel'

Recently there has been a lot of aggressive, 'master race/chosen people' rhetoric coming out of Israel's leadership while they busy themselves erasing the last memories of Palestine. Network news doesn't cover these proclamations because the current crop of non-Jewish, ‘friends of Israel’ (Evangelical Christians included), might think Israel’s actions in Gaza and the West Bank a bit barbaric and withdraw their support.

With that in mind I thought it necessary to pursue some of the back-story behind Israel’s Biblical rhetoric to better understand what is driving the words and actions of Israel (and ninety percent of the global Jewish community). This pursuit is made necessary because those involved feel their actions and utterances need to be hidden from a larger audience.

A recurring theme in the Israeli/Jewish pantheon of enemies is Amalek, a name Benjamin Netanyahu evoked months ago in a motivational address to his people;

“You must remember what Amalek has done to you, says our Holy Bible. And we do remember. And we fight. Our brave troops and combatants who are now in Gaza and in all other regions in Israel, are joining the chain of Jewish heroes, a chain that has started 3,000 years ago, from Joshua ben Nun, until the heroes of 1948, the Six-Day War, the October 73 War, and all other wars in this country. Our hero troops, they have one supreme main goal: to completely defeat the murderous enemy, and to guarantee our existence in this country.” B.Netanyahu, October 28, 2023: Link

Benjamin is referring to these few lines from his Bible; “Remember what Amalek did to you on the road, on your way out of Egypt. That he encountered you on the way, and cut off those lagging to your rear, when you were tired and exhausted; he did not fear G-d.

Therefore . . . you must obliterate the memory of Amalek from under the heavens. Do not forget.”
Devarim (Deuteronomy) - Chapter 25: Link

-

Amalek was a person descended from Esau, the biblical twin brother of Jacob (aka 'Israel'). Esau did not believe that Jacob's god (Yahweh) was 'the' God and so he followed his own path, and his own beliefs.

Esau's offspring did not fall far from the tree and his Grand-son, Amalek took up the challenge against Jacob's Yahweh with a vengeance. According to Bibi’s Bible, those who do not follow Jacob’s god are the descendants of Amalek and must be killed. Link

Arguably the belief system Benjamin Netanyahu promotes did evolve as a way to motivate and justify the usurpation of other people's land, property and lives, with Yahweh responsible for smiting these 'enemies' of Jacob. In fact that Bible which Bibi is waving about during his press conferences is filled with examples of how Yahweh went before the children of Israel to secure their military success.

Devarim (Deuteronomy) Chapter 2, verses 24 through 36 describes how Israel dealt with one of their conquests, the Amorites;

“24...See, I give into your power Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land. Begin the occupation: engage him in battle. 25...This day I begin to put the dread and fear of you upon the peoples everywhere under heaven, so that they shall tremble and quake because of you whenever they hear you mentioned.

32...Sihon with all his men took the field against us at Jahaz, 33...and the Lord our God delivered him to us and we defeated him and his sons and all his men. 34...At that time we captured all his towns, and we doomed every town — men, women, and children — leaving no survivor. 35...We retained as booty only the cattle and the spoil of the cities that we captured. 36...From Aroer on the edge of the Arnon valley, including the town in the valley itself, to Gilead, not a city was too mighty for us; the Lord our God delivered everything to us.” Link

-

Yet according to Bibi’s Bible, Yahweh apparently abandoned the children of Jacob because of their mendacity, so that they themselves fell before the armies of local Kings who saw them as a threat.

“ O [thou that art] named the house of Jacob. Called after that great and good man, and reckoned the people of God, and have the character of being religious persons; but, alas! have but a name, and not the thing, and are the degenerate offspring of that famous patriarch..” Micah 2:7 Link

In fact the community of Jacob were so let down at this apparent abandonment by their god that they demoted Yahweh and placed themselves above him. For the past two thousand years the Jewish community have been on a great journey to 'fix' God's mistakes because, well, somebody has to do it. They call this mission, 'Tikkun olam' Link and Link ; an agenda deserving of scrutiny because of the impact it is having on global society today.

A second-rate God not withstanding, the children of Jacob still use his name to further their cause, as Maimonides letter to the Jews of Yemen illustrates;

“Remember, that ours is the true and authentic Divine religion, revealed to us through Moses, the master of the former as well as the later prophets, by means of which God has distinguished us from the rest of mankind, as Scripture says, "Only the Lord had a delight in thy fathers to love them and He chose their seed after them, even you above all peoples" (Deuteronomy 10:15).

Therefore all the nations instigated by envy and impiety rose up against us, and all the kings of the earth motivated by injustice and enmity applied themselves to persecute us. They wanted to thwart God, but He cannot be thwarted. Ever since the time of Revelation, every despot or slave that has attained to power, be he violent or ignoble, has made it his first aim and his final purpose to destroy our law, and to vitiate our religion, by means of the sword, by violence, or by brute force, such as Amalek, Sisera, Sennacherib, Nebuchadnezzar, Titus, Hadrian, may their bones be ground to dust, and others like them.” Link

If you wish to learn more about how their belief system changed so dramatically two millennia ago then I suggest you read from the 'other' bible that the descendants of Jacob created to get around the perceived confines of the original Ten Commandments; the Talmud.

"If the Bible is the cornerstone of Judaism, then the Talmud is the central pillar, soaring up from the foundations and supporting the entire spiritual and intellectual edifice. In many ways the Talmud is the most important book in Jewish culture, the backbone of creativity and of national life. No other work has had a comparable influence on the theory and practice of Jewish life, shaping spiritual content and serving as a guide to conduct." Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, Link: https://steinsaltz.org/

Link and Link

“The Israeli puppeteer travels to Washington and meets with the puppet in the White House. He then goes down Pennsylvania Avenue and meets with the puppets in Congress. The Israeli leader then 'brings back millions of dollars' in aid to Israel.” Ralph Nader

White House Link and Link

-

What I've written here is my own take on why the children of Jacob are amplifying their war on the children of Amalek today. This is not a justification, just a way for me to understand from whence it came, and where it leads… Link

“When reading you have the opportunity to pause for thought & spark your imagination. It develops intellect. Nothing more threatening to a politician than a well read working class.” Alan Moore

Thanks for reading!

Ted