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Star of David?
The Star of David is
today found in all synagogues and is on the flag of Israel, a symbol of
the restored national Jewish homeland.
However, there are many
Christians today who believe that the Star of David is an occult symbol and
therefore not kosher/proper or correct. (I was taught this, so I did some
searching! Remember, the Bereans (Acts 17:11...search the Scriptures. . .if
these things be so! Find out for yourself!)
There are various theories about the origin of the Star of
David
*.
Most theories
ascribe Gentle/non-Jewish origins to it.
Note
...I'm
trying to help cross some barriers that might have hindered your
understanding of the Jewishness of our 'Apostolic/Christian roots.' Some
barriers have been placed there by well meaning but uninformed/ignorant
teachings! Let us always have a teachable spirit because, if you stop
learning, you stop growing! If that happens...someone said,
"History repeats itself because nobody listens."
Let me begin by pointing out that the
English word “star,” in Star of David, is not the correct translation of
the Hebrew. The Hebrew word is "Magen David" which means “the shield of
David,” not “the star of David.” It is called the shield of David
because Jewish tradition holds that David wore this particular
insignia on his shield.
There is no biblical or historical authenticity to that legend
however.
(Note...This is my
understanding of how the Jewish tradition came into play.)
In the modem Hebrew aleph-bet
(alphabet), the '
d'
sound is
represented by the dalet,
which looks like a backward
‘r'
. But in the ancient Hebrew
alphabet, the
dalet looked
like a triangle [A].
The Star of David (also called the Shield
of David) was made up of these
two
triangular
dalets
.*
(*Note: I went to the modern and the
ancient Hebrew alphabet...
and this is what the letter
'd'/dalet'
looked like in both!
I suppose you could stretch this out and
get two triangles laid over each other and get what would look like a
'shield.' You be the judge.)
Now back to the subject...how
the tradition came to play!
When the pagan nations went to war, they
many times painted fearsome dragons, snakes, or other disgusting
creatures on the shields of the soldiers.
The Israelites chose instead to use the
Shield/Star of David - the two dalets which contained the first and
last letters of King David's name.
King
David had a well-deserved reputation as a great man of war,
and the mere thought of him
(and the Israelites who fought with him)
could strike fear into the hearts of Israel's enemies. It was an
excellent and effective symbol for warfare. It was not used as a
religious symbol by the Jews until several
hundred years later
.
the Holocaust Badges!
A yellow Star of David was
outlined in black. The German word for "Jew" was written in Hebraic style.
The German government's policy of
forcing Jews to wear badges and then confining all who wore them to
ghettos was a tactic aimed at isolating the Jews from the rest of the
population. It enabled the German government to identify,
concentrate, deprive, starve, and ultimately murder the Jews of Europe
under its control. In 1942 Helmut Knochen, the German government's
chief of the Security Service and the Security Police for occupied France
and Belgium, stated that the yellow badge was "another step on the road to
the Final Solution."
This policy was a part of what the
Germans euphemistically called the
"Special Treatment" of the
Jews.
Under this
"Special Treatment,"
the Jews
also endured:
1) A consistent
propaganda campaign labeling them as the embodiment of evil and the
misfortune of German society.
2) The revoking of
all their rights of citizenship.
3) The confiscation
of their property and businesses.
4) Their removal
from jobs, schools, professions, and all social and professional
intercourse with the rest of society.
These measures
culminated in the
Final Solution:
1) Mass murder in
various localities under German control.
2) Deportation of
all remaining Jews to concentration and death camps.
3) Death in gas
chambers built especially for the Jews.
The Shield of David is universally known
and recognized as a Jewish symbol, in much the same way that the Cross
symbolizes Christianity and the Crescent Islam. It is maintained on the
national flag and is widely used in Jewish religious and secular life.
The earliest known usage of the Star of
David is in a second century synagogue in Capernaum but, even then, it was
one of many symbols there and not particularly unique. In fact, it became
a common Jewish symbol for Jewish identity and nationality only in the
Middle Ages and not before. People have come up with various
interpretations as to the Star of David, but these are all theories
applied to the symbol and have nothing to do with its actual origin.
Therefore, we can say nothing more than to say that it became a common
symbol of Jewish nationality in the Middle Ages and continues to be so to
this day.
Sha'aloo shalom Yerushalayim
Pray
for the
Peace
of Jerusalem!
Psalm 122:6
In His service,
bj
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