Greek Criticism Of The Jews In The Biblical Book Of Exodus

“Anti-Judaism” is an ideology that has persisted for centuries and can even be observed in biblical times. For an astronomical amount of time both the quantity of Jews in a given region and the Jewish culture itself has stirred animosity within the hearts of many. In the biblical book of Exodus, one may learn that Thutmose ll (Pharaoh of Egypt) viewed the Hebrews as a threat to his empire and therefore ordered the murder of every first born Hebrew infant that was male. However, these negative views of Hebrews or Jews did not stop here, but essentially followed them into the Greek empire or Hellenistic period. “The essence of Greek criticism of the Jews was that the Jews refused fully to accept the culture and values of the Greek communities” (Crowe, 11). In other words, there was a cultural clash between both groups evolved from the vast differences in their cultural/religious practices and ethics. For example, the Jews strongly believed in modesty especially as it pertained to their attire. They also practiced circumcision because it marked the covenant between God and Abraham. However, Greek attire was not as modest and the Greeks actually believed that the practice of

For many, this individual was believed to be Jesus, who was both a Jew and a Rabbi. Jesus became very popular and attained many followers and this marks the beginning of early Christianity, as Jesus followers considered him to be the Son of God and God himself through belief in the holy trinity. However, anti-Judaism among early Christianity was sparked by the crucification of Jesus. Jesus death caused many early Christians to dislike the Jews because they blamed the Jews for killing