Hebrew Israelites and Transatlantic Slave Trade

Deuteronomy 28:68 is often used as proof text to infer that African Americans must be the true Israelites. Is this true or is it a case of mistaken identity?

 

Show Notes

 

The Lord will take you back in ships to Egypt by a route that I said you would never see again. There you will sell yourselves to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you.” -- Deuteronomy 28:68

 Reasons why it is wrongEvidence this was fulfilled during the Jewish Roman wars.Incoherence when trying to tie this event to the Transatlantic Slave Trade
 Prophecy already fulfilledEvidence this was fulfilled by Roman invasion when the second temple was destroyed.
 Daniel's Dream (Human kingdoms come to an end)Daniel Chapter 2Head of Gold = BabylonBreast of Silver = Medo-PersiaThighs of Brass = GreeceLegs of Iron = RomeFeet of Clay & Iron = Divided kingdomsThe last kingdom, is not by human hands (Daniel 45) is setup by God Himself. It will bring an end to all human kingdoms.
 TimelineRules → Babylonian, Medo-Persian → Jews able to return to Jerusalem due to Cyrus(dispersion), Greeks conquer, then Romans.Roman Jewish Wars; Jerusalem toppled → temple destroyed
 The actual Promised Land

8 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “I give this land to your offspring, from the Brook of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates River: 19 the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, 20 Hethites, Perizzites, Rephaim, 21 Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites. -- Genesis 15:18-21

 

 

Josephus captures the event of the Israelites being taken to EgyptJosephus on Egypt (After the fall of the 2nd Temple)

“Because the soldiers were now growing weary of bloodshed, and survivors appeared constantly, Caesar orders to kill only those who offered armed resistance and to take alive all the rest. (415) The troops, in addition to those covered by their orders, slaughtered the aged and infirm; people to their prime who might be useful they herded into the Temple area and shut up in the Court of the Women (lcl. (416) Caesar appointed one of his freedmen as their guard, his friend Fronto, to decide the fate appropriate to each. (417) All those who had taken part in sedition and brigandage (they informed against other) he executed. He picked out the tallest and handsomest of the lot and reserved them for the Triumph (418). Of the rest, those who were over seventeen he put in chains and sent to hard labor in Egypt while great numbers were presented by Titus to the provinces to perish in the theaters by sword or by wild beasts; those under seventeen were sold”. Josephus, “The Jewish Wars”; Book vi 9:2.

 ChittimPlural form of Kittim - descendants of Javan, the "son" of Japheth (See Genesis 10:4)Oracle of Balaam

4 Ships will come from the coast of Kittim; they will carry out raids against Asshur and Eber, but they too will come to destruction. -- Numbers 24:24

Predicted in Daniel 11

30 Ships of Kittim will come against him, and being intimidated, he will withdraw. Then he will rage against the holy covenant and take action. On his return, he will favor those who abandon the holy covenant. 31 His forces will rise up and desecrate the temple fortress. They will abolish the regular sacrifice and set up the abomination of desolation. -- Daniel 11:30-31

Location of Chittim is Rome; originally Cyprus under the Greeks; conquered by Rome in 58BC
 Eating of FleshDeuteronomy 28:53

53 “You will eat your offspring, the flesh of your sons and daughters the Lord your God has given you during the siege and hardship your enemy imposes on you. 54 The most sensitive and refined man among you will look grudgingly at his brother, the wife he embraces, and the rest of his children, 55 refusing to share with any of them his children’s flesh that he will eat because he has nothing left during the siege and hardship your enemy imposes on you in all your towns. 5 -- Deuteronomy 28:53-56

 Josephus (Jewish Wars)

Among the residents of the region beyond Jordan was a woman called Mary, daughter of Eleazar, of the village of ~Bethezuba (the name means 'House of Hyssop'). She was well off, and of good family, and had fled to Jerusalem with her relatives, where she became involved in the siege. Most of the property she had packed up and brought with her from Peraea had been plundered by the tyrants [Simon and John, leaders of the Jewish war-effort], and the rest of her treasure, together with such food as she had been able to procure, was being carried off by their henchmen in their daily raids. In her bitter resentment the poor woman cursed and abused these extortioners, and this incensed them against her. However, no one put her to death either from exasperation or pity. She grew weary of trying to find food for her kinsfolk. In any case, it was by now impossible to get any, wherever you tried. Famine gnawed at her vitals, and the fire of rage was even fiercer than famine. So, driven by fury and want, she committed a crime against nature. Seizing her child, an infant at the breast, she cried, 'My poor baby, why should I keep you alive in this world of war and famine? Even if we live till the Romans come, they will make slaves of us; and anyway, hunger will get us before slavery does; and the rebels are crueler than both. Come, be food for me, and an avenging fury to the rebels, and a tale of horror to the world to complete the monstrous agony of the Jews.' With these words she killed her son, roasted the body, swallowed half of it, and stored the rest in a safe place. But the rebels were on to her at once, smelling roast meat, and threatening to kill her instantly if she did not produce it. She assured them she had saved them a share, and revealed the remains of her child. Seized with horror and stupefaction, they stood paralyzed at the sight. But she said, 'This is my own child, and my own handiwork. Eat, for I have eaten already. Do not show yourselves weaker than a woman, or more pitiful than a mother. But if you have pious scruples, and shrink from human sacrifice, then what I have eaten can count as your share, and I will eat what is left as well.' At that they slunk away, trembling, not daring to eat, though they were reluctant to yield even this food to the mother. T'he whole city soon rang with the abomination. When people heard of it, they shuddered, as though they had done it themselves.

 Atlantic Slave Trade Incoherence & twisting scriptureEgypt = mis-ra-yim = Egypt.... Not bondage at all.Buy (qnh) = qo-ne(h)' ... Which means to acquire or possess. Not save or redeem.
 Ships to Egypt

# Innumerable was the multitude of those who were sold away as slaves. At the Annual market at the Terebrinth of Hebron they were offered for sale in such numbers that a Jewish slave was of no more value then a horse. What could not be disposed of there was brought to Gaza and there sold or sent to Egypt, on the way to which many died of hunger, or of shipwreck. #

Emil Schurer, " A History of the Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Christ", Edinburgh, 1896, p.11.

 

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