There are several passages where Jesus and other biblical writers refer to Israel’s history of persecuting and killing God’s prophets. In this spiritual application, we are going to go through the history of why these prophets were being systematically murdered by Israel.

When others argue for the case of the Jews being God’s blessed people and the like, they often have never read any of the Old Testament, where the Israelites (one of the tribes is named Judah which comes from the modern phrase “the Jews”) all rebelled against God as a whole. Instead we get slammed with the Jews being righteous, holy, good, and God-fearing. With all the current behavior from Israel as a whole recently, I think people have noticed just how untrue that is even now. People are very upset and furious about how the behavior of others who claim they are Jewish can be so backwards in such terrible ways and then claim antisemitism when criticized. It’s become so clear that Orthodox Jewish people who still genuinely try to follow God criticize the hypocrisy of the false (often called Zionist) Jews. Or the extremist Jews who just say, Lord, Lord, and do everything backwards and do not really follow the Torah. Often the genuine Jews are ex-communicated from their own people and completely cut off when critisizing the hypocrisy of the Zionist Jews.

Jesus also criticized the Jewish people who were hypocritical in actions but wanted to be seen as holy. He starts by mentioning the righteous people who were killed.

”Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.”
(Matthew 23:34-36)

He tells us that all the way from Abel being killed for being righteous, to Zacharias son of Barachias being killed in the actual temple which was considered holy, that all of their blood will be required of them. In other words, your fathers killed God’s righteous servants throughout your history, you are doing exactly what your fathers did, therefore the accumulated judgment for that persistent rebellion is about to come upon this generation as well. Obviously the Jewish leaders were very upset about that criticism.

But if we look at the history of why Jesus even mentions Israel killing the prophets, the pattern is persistent and should give people a better appreciation of what Jesus said as far as the correction for the Jewish people and a clearer understanding and weight of the criticism.

So Jesus mentions Abel first. Abel was a righteous man who genuinely wanted to please God who was then killed by his brother Cain. (Genesis 4:8). He was the very first martyr, not the first Christian one, but the first. He was not a part of Israel at the time, but Jesus adds him to the list anyways as it doesn’t matter what group the person is from. To list all the prophets that were slain would be too long to put here, but we will summarize the most important ones. Moving down in chronological order to the beginning of this happening, we read of 1 Kings 19:10 where Israel has slain Gods prophets with the sword.

”And he said, I have been very jealous for the LORD God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.”

We have jumped straight into the Israelites killing Gods messengers! Just imagine, a once-chosen nation all at once decided to just start rejecting and killing prophets or good godly men and women! The verse is referring to an ongoing persecution under Ahab and Jezebel when these people were king and queen. And we are not just talking about a few people being murdered. Most likely hundreds were killed. These were likely many of the prophets active in the northern kingdom of Israel whose names were never recorded in Scripture. Remember, not every prophet has a book named after him. There were often groups or “schools” of prophets.

For example, in 1 Samuel 10:5, a company of prophets is mentioned. And in 2 Kings 2:3, 5, and 7, the “sons of the prophets” appear in large groups.

Why does Elijah say Israel killed them? In that time Jezebel was a Phoenician queen, but she ruled Israel through Ahab. The nation largely went along with Baal worship. There were many other times when Israel was under another person’s rule, and the nation still behaved righteously, so there was no excuse. At this point they all left God entirely, or almost all. But as we continue reading, the same problem resurfaces. We are not even halfway in the Old Testament, and yet we have serious issues with the so-called chosen people.

In Chronicles, Zechariah is stoned as a prophet of the Lord.

”And the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, which stood above the people, and said unto them, Thus saith God, Why transgress ye the commandments of the LORD, that ye cannot prosper? because ye have forsaken the LORD, he hath also forsaken you. And they conspired against him, and stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king in the court of the house of the LORD.”

(2 Chronicles 24:20-21)

Who likes being told that they have left the Lord and are rebellious? No one, of course, but they all decided to stone God’s messenger and kill him. Not only killing a prophet, but killing him in the place they considered holy. This is the reason Jesus specifically mentions Zechariah son of Jehoiada, because it was something that was so blatantly wrong. God ends up correcting them later with an enemy army as he has done in the past, and therefore making them repent, But it does not stop there, the Israelites only become worse in time.

In Isaiah 1:2-8, Israel is mentioned as a constantly rebelling nation, and it has been so stubborn that it’s given a hypothetical of what would be the point of punishing them as they would just be even more rebellious. At this point in history for Israel, Isaiah compares how the Israelites should have been destroyed just like Sodom and Gomorrah. Or he could have meant that they should have repented like those places did.

”Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.” (Isiah 1:9)

If you continue reading Isaiah 1:10-15, it’s an entire rebuke of the Israelite’s behavior. All of their religious behavior is in vain and empty because inwardly they are wicked. They would perform the rituals and traditions of animal sacrifices and such, but the Lord was not buying it; he was tired of all the double talk. Originally when the Israelites would perform the sacrifices, they were genuine and would be accepted, but now they were just traditions.

”Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men.” (Isiah 29:13)

Another prophet we read of was named Jerimaih. “And there was also a man that prophesied in the name of the LORD, Urijah the son of Shemaiah of Kirjathjearim, who prophesied against this city and against this land according to all the words of Jeremiah.” Later, Urijah is killed for prophesying against the king and the leaders of Judah (Jeremiah 26:20–23).

Just a reminder that the books of the Old Testament are not arranged in strict chronological order. Although Chronicles appears before Jeremiah in our Bibles, the events in Jeremiah 26 occurred before the summary found in 2 Chronicles 36. That is why Jeremiah is being discussed alongside Chronicles in this section.

Later in Chronicles again we read of God sending more messengers to Israel for their healing.

”And the LORD God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place: But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against his people, till there was no remedy.” (2 Chronicles 36:15-16)

The chronicler’s summary is that God’s people continually mocked and rejected His messengers until judgment came. Chronicles 36 is looking back over the repeated rejection of God’s messengers that culminated in the Babylonian exile.

I want to pause right there and let people know that in the Old Testament, if you committed murder, your sentence was death. (Exodus 21:12) The Lord was not tolerant of such wicked behavior when following the Torah. Much later, when Jesus himself comes in person, he gives a parable that reflects this exact problem that was repeatedly happening with Israel.

”And Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables, and said, The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son, And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come. Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage.

But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise: And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them. But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy. Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage. So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests.” (Matthew 22:1-10)

”The wedding is ready, but they who were bidden were not worthy.” Strong stuff coming from Jesus.

Disobeying the Lord was worthy of destruction according to the Old Testament. Jesus is saying the same thing in this parable referenced, just in a different light in the New Testament. Revelation also mentions people who disobey the Lord Jesus will be destroyed too. The Lord is the same yesterday, today, and forever. (Hebrews 13:8) Jesus is saying he has moved on from those who were chosen to another people that might actually listen. Jesus regretted that the original chosen people were still disobedient after thousands of years.

”O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.” (Matthew 23:37-39)

Even when reading a parable from Jesus in Luke 19:11-27, Jesus clearly references the original Israelites as being chosen in verse 27, and that they deliberately refused God to be their king, not Jesus mind you, the God of the OT, before Jesus´time.

To reflect more of what I just said and to provide evidence for my statement, an important verse people miss easily is from 1 Samuel 8:7 where the Lord of the OT instructs his current leader to listen to the Israelites and create a worldly king for them because they said they wanted to be like other nations and to have a human leader instead of God leading them.

”And the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.” (1 Samuel 8:7)

This statement from God carries a huge amount of weight, after this was said, the Israelites were in constant trouble and repentance. They created their own kingdom, a human one that God himself did not want. To this day, the nation of Israel is rebellious and disobedient to God. The chosen people are not chosen anymore. To quote Jesus one more time, he directly tells the Jewish leaders that the kingdom of Heaven is taken from them and given to others who will actually listen.

”Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country: And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it. And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them likewise. But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son.

But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance. And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him. When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen? They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons. Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?

Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder. And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them. But when they sought to lay hands on him, they feared the multitude, because they took him for a prophet.” (Matthew 21:33-46)

I hope you have learned the truth about the original chosen people and how they consistently disobeyed and rejected God and that you can take Jesus´words to heart when he says the kingdom of God was given to other people who were more appreciative of him. That would be us gentiles, thanks for reading. God bless the real Israelites, which are us who are grafted in now. Amen.