Israelite/Jewish racialism
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The Israelites, a subnation of the Hebrews and specifically the tribe of the Jews manifested the consciousness of racialism or an ethnocentrism because they thought "themselves superior people thanks to the fact that God had revealed to them the one true religion with its superior law. 1 Philo affirms this teaching among his people.
Jacob is the third patriarch of the Israelite race. He was father of the twelve tribes of Israel. He was the second of two twins; the first-born being Esau. In theSeptuagint, Genesis 25.23, God blessed Jacob with being superior to his brother, i.e.:
- "And the Lord said to her, There are two nations in thy womb and two peoples shall be separated from thy belly, and one people shall excel the other, and the elder shall serve the younger".
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Excerpts from biblical texts
- LXX (Septuagint), Ex. 19.5 "...ye shall be to me a peculiar people above nations for all the earth is mine"
- LXX, Ex 33:16 "And how shall it be surely known, that both I and this people have found favor with thee, ...So both I and thy people shall be glorified beyond all the nations, as many as are upon the earth."
- LXX, Deut. 26:19 "...and that thou shouldest be above all nations, as he has made thee renowned, and a boast, and glorious."
- LXX, Deut. 28:13 "The Lord thy God make thee the head, and not the tail: and thou shalt then be above and thou shalt not be below...."
- LXX Deut. 28.1 "...that the Lord thy God shall set thee on high above all the nations of the earth."
- LXX Psalm 131.13-14 "For the Lord has elected Sion, he has chosen her for a habitation for himself, saying (14) This is my rest for ever: here will I dwell; for I have chosen it."
- LXX, Isaih. 43.20-21 "...to give drink to my chosen race."
Miscellania
- Racialism is a given fact in the Bible.
- LXX, Book of Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 36.10-13
- "And all men are from the ground, and Adam was created of earth. In much knowledge the Lord hath divided them, and made their ways diverse. Some of them hath he blessed and exalted, and some of them hath he sanctified, and set near himself: but some of them hath he cursed and brought low, and turned out of their places. As the clay is in the potter's hand, to fashion it at his pleasure: so man is in the hand of him that made him, to render to them as liketh him best."
References
- "Did Paul Value Ethnicity", pg 275
Bibliography
- John M. G. Barclay, Jews in the Mediterranean Diaspora: From Alexander to Trajan (323 BCE—117CE), (Edinburgh: Clark, 1996). pg 405-7.
- Charles H. Cosgrove, "Did Paul Value Ethnicity", The Catholic Biblical Quarterly 68,2006.
