TO say otherwise is a perverse form of historical revisionism. To wish otherwise is to wish for a counterfactual. Facts have a necessity to them: Given any fact \"p\" it cannot be otherwise than p. But there is more to Jesus' Jewishness. The evangelists show eagerness, in various ways, to show how Jesus fulfills the hopes and aspirations of the Jews and how the God who revealed Himself in the Old Testament as the God of the Fathers is the Father of Jesus Christ. \"Salvation is from the Jews\" must certainly mean something!<\/p>\r\r
Canaan was the original name of the land \u2014 the very same land into which the children of Israel settled following the Exodus. \"Palestine\" was derived from the Philistines who settled along the Mediterranean coast. What is clear, however, is that toward the end of the 1st century B.C. (I refuse to concede to \"B.C.E.\"), the Kingdom of Israel was in place, but politics and religion would combine to cause a split into two kingdoms: the Kingdom of Israel in the north, with Samaria as its capital, the Kingdom of Judah in the south, with Jerusalem as its capital. The Assyrians caused the downfall and the dispersal of the northern kingdom in the 8th century B.C., and the Babylonians, the southern kingdom in the 6th century B.C.<\/p>\r\r
First coming under the Seleucid kings and later on the Romans, the Jewish people remained restive, and even after the Roman general Titus destroyed the city of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. Including the Temple built by Herod the Great, unrest would not cease, coming to a climax in the Bar-Kochba rebellion that caused Emperor Hadrian to unleash full Roman fury and to rename the whole land \"Syro-Palaestina\" \u2014 a severe blow to the Jews for whom Syrians and Philistines were sworn enemies. This became part of the Byzantine Empire after the fall of Rome. The Muslims arrived in the 7th century, and successive Crusades were launched against them \u2014 popes and kings eager to wrest the Holy Land from \"infidels.\"<\/p>\r\r
The First World War saw the dissemination of the Balfour Declaration, which was a statement of the British government's support for a state in Palestine that would be the national home for the Jewish population. In fact, there always was a Jewish population in so-called Palestine even under the Ottomans. The same declaration gave way to British mandate over Palestine under the \"mandate system\" (the predecessor of the UN Trusteeship Council) of the League of Nations. The end of the Second World War brought with it the creation of the State of Israel.<\/p>\r\r
When one says that the present-day Israelis may not, as whole, be the physical heirs of the Jews of the Old and the New Testaments \u2014 and that is something that can be said of the Filipinos as well, many of whom are not necessarily descendants of the indigenous settlers of our archipelago \u2014 one must add that they surely are their cultural and religious descendants, how else to explain their \"Jewishness\"!<\/p>\r\r
That Israel must now restrain itself is legally and morally clear. But that it was unwarranted for it to go after the whole cabal of Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthis and others who vow the extermination of Israel is nonsense. The ineluctable fact is that Israel has enemies who opposed the creation of the State of Israel and who continue to oppose its existence. Even now that a two-state solution is proposed, many Arabs are opposed to it because of their vision of an Arab state \"from sea to sea\" \u2014 meaning, no Israel!<\/p>\r\r
I am all for a Palestinian state. In fact, its creation and recognition are long overdue. But Jesus came for the liberation of all who are oppressed \u2014 and if there is any title that he rejected with firmness, it was that of a political conquering hero. He was born a Jew but came into the world to bring the glad tidings that it is God's will that all be gathered into his Kingdom!<\/p>\r\r
[email protected]<\/em><\/p>","article_custom_fields":"{\"\":[\"\"],\"seo_meta_keywords\":[\"\"],\"seo_meta_description\":[\"\"],\"seo_meta_title\":[\"\"],\"sponsored_flag\":[\"\"],\"offer_flag\":[\"off\"],\"featured_article_flag\":[\"\"],\"drupal_json\":[\"{\\\"type\\\":null,\\\"properties\\\":{\\\"PUBLISHED\\\":0,\\\"PROMOTED\\\":0,\\\"STICKY\\\":0},\\\"fields\\\":[]}\"],\"wp_custom_json\":[\"{\\\"type\\\":\\\"\\\",\\\"fields\\\":[]}\"],\"article_tags\":[\"\"],\"show_image\":[\"off\"],\"Disable_Ad\":[\"off\"],\"disable_player\":[\"off\"],\"column\":[\"\"],\"kicker\":[\"\"],\"edel\":[\"\"],\"delu\":[\"\"],\"delt\":[\"Read this in The Manila Times digital edition.\"],\"premium\":[\"off\"],\"Redirect_URL\":[\"\"],\"Registration_required\":[\"off\"],\"background_image\":[\"off\"],\"user_needs\":[\"\"],\"page_number\":\"0\",\"initial_publication\":\"\",\"date_created\":\"2024-12-31 17:33:29\",\"date_modified\":\"2024-12-31 17:35:07\",\"last_modified_user\":\"Severino Frayna\",\"section_color\":\"\",\"target_page\":\"0\",\"cxense_metatags\":null}","cms_type":"live","author_id":816,"section_id":13,"seo_meta_keywords":"Jesus,was,born,a,Jew!","seo_meta_description":"","seo_meta_title":"Jesus was born a Jew!","publish_time":"2025-01-01 00:09:00","related_articles_ids":"","article_tags":"","sub_section_id":6,"visit_count":120,"sponsored_flag":0,"offer_flag":0,"featured_article_flag":0,"media_gallery_flag":0,"video_gallery_flag":0,"highlight_flag":0,"top_story_flag":0,"is_updated":0,"is_old_article":0,"old_article_id":0,"article_byline":"Fr. Ranhilio Callangan Aquino","ts":"2025-01-02 15:54:39","last_edited":"2024-12-31 17:35:07","alt_publish_time":"2024-12-31 17:35:11","image_path":"{\\\"image_path\\\":\\\"manilatimes\\\\\/uploads\\\\\/images\\\\\/2024\\\\\/12\\\\\/31\\\\\/503238.jpg\\\",\\\"cms_type\\\":\\\"live\\\",\\\"small_image\\\":\\\"\\\",\\\"is_updated\\\":\\\"0\\\",\\\"image_cropping\\\":\\\"{\\\\\\\"original_image\\\\\\\":{\\\\\\\"image_original_width\\\\\\\":1920,\\\\\\\"image_original_height\\\\\\\":1008,\\\\\\\"icd_image_type\\\\\\\":\\\\\\\"original_image\\\\\\\"},\\\\\\\"main_image\\\\\\\":{\\\\\\\"image_main_width\\\\\\\":1200,\\\\\\\"image_main_height\\\\\\\":630,\\\\\\\"icd_image_type\\\\\\\":\\\\\\\"main_image\\\\\\\"}}\\\",\\\"is_copied\\\":\\\"0\\\",\\\"media_type\\\":\\\"0\\\",\\\"image_caption\\\":\\\"Fr. Ranhilio Callangan Aquino\\\",\\\"image_alt_text\\\":\\\"\\\",\\\"image_count\\\":1}","author_name":"Fr. Ranhilio Callangan Aquino","section_name":"Opinion","sub_section_name":"Columns","slide_show":0,"breaking_news":0,"visit_count_update_date":"2025-01-02 15:54:39","old_cms_article_id":null,"permalink":"2025\/01\/01\/opinion\/columns\/jesus-was-born-a-jew\/2028817","show_image_in_thumb":0,"api_status":2,"a_custom_data":"{\"exclude_from_gallery\":null,\"lead_image_id\":null}","publication_id":2,"max_publish_time":"2025-01-01 00:09:00","page_number":"0","homepage_article_flag":0,"article_shortlink":null,"cropped_image":0};
TO say otherwise is a perverse form of historical revisionism. To wish otherwise is to wish for a counterfactual. Facts have a necessity to them: Given any fact "p" it cannot be otherwise than p. But there is more to Jesus' Jewishness. The evangelists show eagerness, in various ways, to show how Jesus fulfills the hopes and aspirations of the Jews and how the God who revealed Himself in the Old Testament as the God of the Fathers is the Father of Jesus Christ. "Salvation is from the Jews" must certainly mean something!
Canaan was the original name of the land — the very same land into which the children of Israel settled following the Exodus. "Palestine" was derived from the Philistines who settled along the Mediterranean coast. What is clear, however, is that toward the end of the 1st century B.C. (I refuse to concede to "B.C.E."), the Kingdom of Israel was in place, but politics and religion would combine to cause a split into two kingdoms: the Kingdom of Israel in the north, with Samaria as its capital, the Kingdom of Judah in the south, with Jerusalem as its capital. The Assyrians caused the downfall and the dispersal of the northern kingdom in the 8th century B.C., and the Babylonians, the southern kingdom in the 6th century B.C.
