Fun fact, the word "Jew" is not mentioned in the Torah and the first mention in the Old Testament is in 2 Kings which was around 848 BC, which was somewhere around 900 to 1,000 years after Jacob was renamed Israel somewhere around 1800 BC and then had a son named Judah. They were called Hebrews and children of Abraham.
I don't have many strong opinions about this because it's such a mystery. I suppose that's the point. It is worth mentioning that half the Old Testament is about Israel and Judah falling into idol worship, child sacrifice, and temple prostitution and it would not be a surprise if a strong faction of those people persisted through the millennia.
In the Gospels, Jesus talks to the Pharisees in ways that were very confusing to me as a child, he calls them murderers and children of Satan and says on the inside they are full of dead men's bones and every kind of impurity- he says anyone who harms little children should have a millstone tied around their neck and be cast into the sea.
I always thought it was metaphor and that Jesus was talking about their political subterfuge and arrogance- that they were pious on the outside but their hearts weren't right. But what if it was just literal? The way He speaks to the Pharisees makes so much more sense if they were just a bunch of occult pedovores.
This is priesthood attire from ancient Israel. https://lanetothetorah.blogspot.com/2014/04/the-humble-high-priest.html
Fun fact, the word "Jew" is not mentioned in the Torah and the first mention in the Old Testament is in 2 Kings which was around 848 BC, which was somewhere around 900 to 1,000 years after Jacob was renamed Israel somewhere around 1800 BC and then had a son named Judah. They were called Hebrews and children of Abraham.
I don't have many strong opinions about this because it's such a mystery. I suppose that's the point. It is worth mentioning that half the Old Testament is about Israel and Judah falling into idol worship, child sacrifice, and temple prostitution and it would not be a surprise if a strong faction of those people persisted through the millennia.
In the Gospels, Jesus talks to the Pharisees in ways that were very confusing to me as a child, he calls them murderers and children of Satan and says on the inside they are full of dead men's bones and every kind of impurity- he says anyone who harms little children should have a millstone tied around their neck and be cast into the sea.
I always thought it was metaphor and that Jesus was talking about their political subterfuge and arrogance- that they were pious on the outside but their hearts weren't right. But what if it was just literal? The way He speaks to the Pharisees makes so much more sense if they were just a bunch of occult pedovores.