Christmas and Anti-Semitism. Some people never let up!

Daphne's latest post on her blog, here, makes the following comments:

In old Europe, Easter was the traditional time for assault on the Jews: as is well-known, many a pogrom took place around that time, stoked by the canard that Jews killed Jesus.
These days, it seems to be Christmas that's the traditional time for an all-out assault upon the Jews, in the form of the Jewish State.  As I remarked here, Yuletide sees an intensification of that Open Season on Israel that takes place throughout the year.

I was intrigued. I could understand Easter being an occasion for anti-semitism, although it is fueled by ignorance as well as by hatred. But Christmas? OK, so the usual suspects are still playing games with Christmas Carols, but hatred for the Jews? This is a birth in Judea. It says so in the Bible. We read these texts every year.

Well, my own blog has given me evidence of a spike in interest, about who killed Jesus, just before Christmas. This post, "Who killed Jesus...?" which is the most viewed post since I started blogging, is viewed almost every day, but, according to my stats, they recorded more views than usual for this post during the past week.

After 2000 years, we still need to know how to apportion blame for the death of Jesus. No other death in custody gets that level of attention. It shows how important a Person this Jesus is.

So to all my readers, Jew and Christian, have a blessed time while we Christians celebrate the Messiah/Christ and may the God of Israel grant us all peace in the coming year, be it the peace of heart, mind and spirit that we may well need in these difficult times.

Luke 2:8 - 21

And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

“Glory to God in the highest,and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

Chag Sameach and Merry Christmas!

Oh yes. Finally, I've got to Succoth, and have I got some treats for you? You'd better believe it.

First off, there is £20.00 for anyone who can prove, from the New Testament, that Jesus was born in a stable. Bear in mind that the 'inn' was a guest-room and the manger was, until recently, standard kitchen equipment across the Mediterranean and before then just about everywhere. You can email me, where it says 'Email me' on the right. I used to do this when I was teaching. I have never paid out yet.

People can live with that challenge, but what upsets everyone is the following: prove to me that Mary rode anywhere on a donkey. There is no donkey in the Birth stories of Jesus (The Christmas Story). That really gets people upset. Teachers don't like it because it messes up their unbiblical Nativity stories and the kids because they want a donkey. Sorry, no deal until Passover.

So where did that stable come from?

You can view the second, by Edward Burne-Jones in Birmingham Art Gallery. Make the trip. It's worth it.

Now take a look at a  couple of Succoth booths

Notice the similarity between the pictures of the "stable" and the pictures of the booth. 

Take the Stable out of December, take it out of Mid-winter, take it out of Middle Europe and the Middle Ages. The cut-away is not to see the Nativity. It is how you build a Sukkah!

copyright Ori 229

The Gospel of John says, "And the Word became flesh and pitched His tent (a literal translation of  he Greek word) among us..." which is to say 'Tabernacled' . John 1:14

Put it another way. Take a sukkah, remove it from Israel and move the celebration to December 25th. In no time flat, you will get a strong tradition of a Stable that has no basis in scripture. Mistranslate 'guest-room' to inn and you have 'No room in the inn'.

What is worth noticing is that the Burne-Jones picture is more of a sukkah than a stable. He was part of the same artistic circle as Holman Hunt. You can see an axe in the bottom right. The small white flowers are 'Star of Bethlehem' You will note that the Star is being held by an angel. It is not meant to be a literal star.They knew more of the gospel in those days than many a Christian now. 

Matthew, from whose gospel the story of the Magi comes, was a Levite. He is paralleling their journey with  the journeys of Abraham and then the Israelites to the Promised Land. They are from the same area as Abram and they are led by a Light as were the Israelites.