Chapter 18-2: The Jewish Holdout Against Idolatry


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Chapter 18-2: The Jewish Holdout Against Idolatry - Part 2

Those forty odd years of rule when the Phoenician/Syrian emperors reigned over the Roman Empire like the ancient kingdoms of Assyria and Babylon, was the very time that the Jews came back into favor with the Roman authorities. The precise reason why the Jewish people were esteemed is not known, but it may well be that the emperors were shown by "The Rabbi" that they were the last power of Daniel’s image which would finally usher in the Kingdom of God on earth. Thai last power in the Book of Isaiah, though unidentified by Daniel, is revealed to be the one in which Edom (the twin brother of Jacob) would have world rule ― he would govern all the nations (Isaiah 34). Besides this, “The Rabbi” could also show from the records that the Phoenicians (who bore the name “Red”) were in fact descended from Edom (“Red”) whose other name was Esau. It was also easy to show the emperors that the chief god of the early Phoenicians at Tyre was in fact "Ousoos" or the patriarch "Esau."

Combining these historical factors together could have convinced the Phoenician emperors that it was the former Romans who had persecuted the Jews and the Edomites (Idumaeans) at the time when Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed, and now it was time for their "brother Edom" to come to their rescue and protect them. Whatever the case, the Phoenician emperors who were so keen to introduce Babylonianism into the Empire, left the Jews alone. All they required was that they not proselytize, and the Jews agreed. The Samaritans were not so honored and did not recover power until the time of Baba Rabban in the 4^th century.

When these things are properly understood, the statements by "The Rabbi" Judah about the Severide emperors can now make sense. He knew that the Phoenicians even from the historical records could be shown to be "Edomites." The Encyclopedia Judaica has a comment regarding "The Rabbi" and his dealings with the Roman emperors.

"Circumspection marked Judah ha-Nasi’s relations with the Roman authorities. In contrast to the Samaritans, the Jews adopted a policy of nonintervention in the civil war which broke out after the murder of Clodius in 192 C.E. between Septimus Severus and his rival Pescennius Niger. Judah was also careful not to flaunt his position outside Eretz Israel, as is illustrated in the following story: ‘Rabbi said to R. Afes: "Write a letter in my name to our Lord the emperor Antoninus."’ He wrote: ‘From Judah ha-Nasi to our Lord, the emperor Antoninus.’ Judah took and read it, tore it up, and wrote: ‘To our Lord the emperor from your servant Judah.’ R. Afes said, ‘Rabbi, why do you lower your dignity?’ He answered him: ‘Am I then better than my ancestor? Did he not declare [Genesis 32:5]: Thus shall ye say unto my lord Esau: Thus saith thy servant Jacob’?"

And indeed, those emperors of Phoenician extraction were historically reckoned to be from Edom. All Jews from then onward (and even the Samaritans in their literature) refer to the Romans as "Edomites." Both the Jewish authorities and those of the Samaritans considered that Roman civilization was being governed by the descendants of the twin brother of Jacob. They were actually Edomites.

And what is interesting as well as instructive, it seems as though the "two twin brothers" (that is, their descendants) had now made up with one another. And truly, the Jewish people were indeed blessed within that 40 years when the Severide emperors ruled over the Roman Empire. It is no accident that "The Rabbi" when he had the Mishnah compiled assiduously avoided any mention of past hatred to the Romans. There is no tractate of the Mishnah devoted to the destruction of the Temple some 130 years before and no complete chapter detailing the events of the war of Bar Kokhba with the Romans some 65 years before. (For more information on this interesting period of time, see Neusner, The Christian and Judaic Invention of History, pp.3–15.) This was a time of reconciliation between "Jacob" and "Esau" (Edom) and these good times for the two people allowed the real development of the Rabbinic Judaism in a sense of solidarity and purity which has lasted until our modern times.

After the Phoenician emperors came to an end in C.E. 235, the next group of emperors that followed until the rise of Constantine, were soldiers and not one of them was Roman. In fact, not a single one was even from Italy. Most came from humble origins in the Balkans (by the way, the Balkan region was a strong-hold of Mithraic Sun-worship which can be proved to have come out of Babylon). One emperor in this period was a Moor, and at the celebration for Rome’s 1,000th anniversary, it was Philip the Arab who was emperor. The Jews even felt that this rulership of Philip was allowed by God to give Ishmael a part in the rulership of the world. Because of this, the Roman Empire was even called "Ishmael" on some occasions (though more often they use it to designate the Arabs who later developed and nurtured Islam). I will have more to say on Islam in the next chapter.

The truth is, Rome by this time in history had become a Semitic Empire for all practical purposes. The Jewish historians and scholars saw these things happening in front of their eyes and they called attention to them in various ways in their later writings.

These emperors who followed the Severides were all keenly interested in the new eastern religions which were now completely infiltrated into the Empire. One of them was Aurelian, who reigned from C.E. 270 to 275. He was from the Balkans. His father was a farmer while his mother, like the Syro-Phoenician emperors’ mothers, was a priestess of the Sun (Williams, Historians’ History, vol.6, p.421). He grew up as an adherent of the Sun-god cult. And indeed, when Constantine came to power, and before his conversion to Christianity, he was also a worshiper of the Sun-god, just like most emperors in the previous 150 years.

With all this Babylonian Sun-god ritual in evidence, we can well imagine how the Roman world was turning into an Babylonian and Assyrian type of society. It was progressively getting more eastern all the time. The complete transformation, however, came with Diocletian, the predecessor of Constantine. The Historians’ History of the World says:

"Diocletian permanently introduced eastern forms of government. Until his time the outward appearance of the emperor had only a passing air of easternism, but with Diocletian this character of government was established for all time to come. From Diocletian the white bandeau or diadem, borrowed from the east, became the distinctive sign of the ruler, whilst formerly the purple raiment had been the sole sign. Diocletian and his next successor [Constantine] introduced the remaining eastern regal ornaments. The emperor Aurelian had, indeed, set them the example here."

Williams, Historians’ History, vol.6, p.435

"The Asiatic pomp, which had been adopted by Diocletian, assumed as air of softness and effeminacy in the person of Constantine."

Williams, Historians’ History, vol.6, p.456

Indeed, the whole court by the time of Constantine was now completely "Babylonian." Constantine’s rule was an eastern monarchy now in the west. This point, though vitally important in understanding the history of late antiquity, is hardly emphasized by historians in our late 20^th century. Scholars in the first part of this century were different. Dr. Shotwell of Columbia University, speaking of Diocletian and Constantine’s day, said,

"The tongue of Greece gave free access to the philosophy of the east, and its pantheon was filled with all the gods of the world. Rome’s thought became the reflex of that of the hellenized east [that is, the thought of Syria and Egypt]. If Rome conquered the ancient world, it was made captive in return. The Roman government and society were no longer Roman in anything but name. The administration of the Empire had become a Persian absolutism [inherited from Babylon], and its society was verging towards eastern caste."

Williams, Historians’ History, vol.7, pp.XIII, XIV

With Constantine we find the real completion of the Babylonian and the diasporaic Samaritan movements to Rome and to Italy, and to the rest of the western parts of the Empire. By now, not only the people, but the religion, philosophy and even the government of old Babylon had been transferred to the west. And, with an acceptance of the Constantinian form of Christianity (the type which introduced Babylonian idolatry and pagan teachings into the bosom of the Christian Church), the power had now arisen which was to govern the future western world, a force which is still influencing us today.

And note this carefully. Professing Christianity today has more idolatrous images, pictures, icons and other symbols and designs that violate the clear text of the second commandment than any other pagan religion on earth today. The use of images dominates our type of Christianity. The Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics shows that modern day Christianity is far and away the greatest violator of the second of the Ten Commandments.

"No religion can rival Christianity in the multiplicity of its images. In some large churches, such as the French cathedrals of Paris, Chartres, Reims, and Amiens, there are as many as two, three, or four thousand statues; and in the cathedrals of Chartres, Bourges, and Le Mans, three, four, or five thousand figures on stained-glass. Although quite a number of these are figures of unimportant personages, nevertheless we have here what has been called a whole bible for use of the unlettered. Next to Christianity comes Buddhism, which has covered India, Ceylon, and the Malay Archipelago with its bas-reliefs, and flooded Tibet, China, and Japan with its painted images; in this it has been imitated by the other religions of the Far East, including Hinduism. It is superfluous to mention here the service rendered to art by the mythological compositions of Graeco-Roman sculpture. Of less importance from an aesthetic point of views but nonetheless interesting, are the bas-reliefs and paintings of Egypt, and the sculptures of Mesopotamia and Asia Minor. It may be said that the region where religious images are found forms a belt on the surface of the globe which includes the northern hemisphere from Japan to Mexico, while in the Southern hemisphere there are only some rudiments of art."

Hastings, Encyclopaedia of Religion & Ethics, vol.VII, p.111

Is it not interesting that Christianity out performs all of Buddhism and Hinduism in the use of religious images in their worship services today? Not only that, we also far out distance ancient Egypt, and even more revealing is the fact that modern Christianity even out produces ancient Mesopotamia in idolatry (where the biblical prophets said idolatry began). And yes, our indulgence is greater even than that of Greece and Rome.

The truth is, the eastern peoples who came from Babylon, Syria, Asia Minor, Samaria, Edom, Phoenicia, etc. were very successful indeed in depositing and cultivating the use of images in their worship right in the heart of Rome and the west. What is even more interesting (despite the teaching of the second commandment) is the fact that Christians have accepted these eastern Babylonian idolatrous practices even into the bosom of the Christian Church, and that Christianity is now the chief propagator in the world of image making and worship.

We are an idolatrous society, yet we claim to be Christian at the same time. This is precisely what Simon Magus intended to introduce to the west. He and his successors were very successful. This is what Eusebius and Epiphanius in the 4^th century saw was occurring among the people even in the highest echelons of government.

These early Christian fathers abhorred the trend. They even tried to persuade the rulers not to make pictures or images of Jesus even if the images were true depictions (which, of course, they were not). Making them and placing them in homes and churches was illegal according to them. It was to them a violation of the second commandment. It also made no difference if people worshiped before the pictures or images or not. Indeed, even the possession of them was illegal according to Eusebius and Epiphanius (and all the previous fathers of the Christian community back to the time of the apostles). Such pictures and images were not allowed even for simple decoration.

But today, we witness those idolatrous images, idols and pictures in profusion within most Christian circles. For the past 1600 years (since the time of Constantine) they have been perpetuated by our traditional Christianity. And remarkably, this has been done, in spite of the express teaching of the apostle Paul: "Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry" (1 Corinthians 10:14).

The whole of Europe in the 6^th century could be said to have become an idolatrous and image-making society which called itself Christian. It is this very thing that caused a major reaction in the Middle East in the 7^th century when a young man from the Koreish tribe of Mecca looked on all the idolatry around him both among the pagan Arabs and the Christians and decided to do something about it. In the next chapter, I wish to make some comments about Muhammad himself which many people may not have realized and also about the original source of our world religions. It may be a surprise to people, but The People That History Forgot are involved in these historical events too.

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