Ishihara, Kiyoshi. Translated by Gilbert Zinke. "Bible Interpretations that Bring Forth Extremist Fundamentalism" (過激な原理主義を生み出す聖書の解釈). Japan Evangelical Association Theological Commission Pamphlet 6 (May 2006): 5-15.
Link to pages: [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ] [ 6 ]
II. THE LIFESTYLE OF RADICAL FUNDAMENTALISTS THAT FOLLOWS FROM "THE ZEALOTS"
According to Numbers 25, the people of Israel who exited Egypt began playing the harlot with the daughters of Moab in Shittim, and because of that a plague came upon them, and twenty-four thousand people fell victim. This disaster was stopped by Phinehas, son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest. He took on Yahweh’s indignation as his own, and killed the troublemaking man and woman by skewering them with a spear.
As a result, Yahweh bestowed on him a covenant of peace, promising that his descendants after him would be priests forever. In Numbers 25:13 it is written: “…because he was jealous (=zealous) for his God, and made atonement for the sons of Israel;” his act was commended. This zealous act of Phinehas is mentioned in Psalm 106:28~31 as having contributed to the purging of the people who had run after idolatry.
It is said that, indeed, from the fountainhead of this zealous act, was later born the
“Zealot Party.” The name of this faction is a word that denotes jealousy and zeal; even within Judaism, this sect was made up of those who were especially exclusionary and adhered to nationalism. They were certainly zealous for Yahweh, the only God; while boycotting other gods, they put their lives on the line to fight for the political independence of their nation. As for the lineage of the current-day extremist fundamentalists in America, one can see a lifestyle linked, if the background is sought in the Old Testament, to Phinehas the priest; furthermore, if in the time of Jesus, to the Zealots.
At this point I’d like to touch on one more event that links to the Zealots. It is an event that intertwines with the life of Elijah, the prophet. Elijah, who was active in the time of the Northern Kingdom’s notorious King Ahab, was a prophet who made a frontal assault on the Baal worship established by Ahab’s wife, Jezebel. The text of 1 Kings 18 records the climax of that conflict [or “apex of his career”]. Elijah had a showdown on the summit of Mt. Carmel with 450 prophets of Baal. Though it was a religious battle in which numerically he stood absolutely no chance of winning, by prayer Elijah was able to call down “fire from heaven” and win a great victory. As a result the people of Israel turned back to Yahweh, and the religion of Yahweh, which had been endangered, weathered a crisis. The victorious Elijah commanded the people, “Seize the prophets of Baal; do not let one of them escape.” The people “seized them; and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and slew them there” (1 Kings 18:40).
Indeed this incident is also claimed to be a fountainhead of the aforementioned “Zealot Party.” In present-day terminology, it could be called a large-scale massacre of the adherents of another religion. If the many wars promoted by the extremist fundamentalists to this day, in seeking legitimacy, find relevance in the Zealots, the radical sect of Judaism, and trace further back to the Old Testament prophets, this event of Elijah’s carries heavy meaning.
Now then, let us here consider Melchizedek, a priest who is in complete contrast to Phinehas. He is the first priest to appear in the Old Testament. He was called Melchizedek, King of Salem, and is introduced as a priest of the Most High God (Genesis 14:18). Abraham, having succeeded in rescuing his nephew, Lot, sends a tenth of all [the spoil] to Melchizedek the priest. In Hebrews 7:1~3, this Melchizedek is presented as a “king of peace” and a “perpetual priest.” Furthermore, the writer of Hebrews declares him to be “like the Son of God,” and a type of the priesthood of Christ. Probably, the writer of Hebrews, regarding the office of the first earthly priest to appear in the Bible, had a conviction that it was fulfilled by the atoning work of Christ, seeing that it was what ultimately brought about true peace. Certainly Christ, taking the sins of all mankind upon his own body, established peace between God and man.
Is not this lineage, which begins with Melchizedek and continues on to Christ, the true ideal in which ethnic Israel, as a nation of priests, should have walked? However, the actual Israel, unfortunately, was unable to carry out such a calling. They, rather than interceding for the world, pursued the interests of their own nation. To that end they became a decadent people, not even averse to mass slaughter; they disregarded their duty to be “a holy people.” Indeed, does not the path that the extremist fundamentalists are now following seem to be, unfortunately, not the “Melchizedek/Christ Line” of intercession, but the “Phinehas/Elijah Line” of carnage?
Takakazu (Koichi?) Mori, Professor of Theology at Doshisha University in “‘Religious Nation’: Can America Conquer Fundamentalism?” ( Gendai Shisou (i.e. Modern Thought), October 2002 Issue—Special Feature: Know America) wrote the following about immediately-post 9/11 America:
Immediately after 9/11, stars and stripes banners were everywhere in American society. Coming face to face with a hitherto unknown national crisis, the American people instinctively felt a need to band together under the stars and stripes banner.
Along with the stars and stripes banner, something [else] rapidly spread throughout American society immediately after 9/11. It was the words, “God Bless America,” and the patriotic song of the same name. The composer was Irving Berlin, the composer of “White Christmas.” This song [“God Bless America”], written in 1938, is better loved than the official national anthem, and could be called the second national anthem:
God bless America,
land that I love.
Stand beside her, and guide her
through the night with a light from above.
From the mountains, to the prairies, to the ocean white with foam,
God bless America, my home sweet home.
God bless America, my home sweet home.
[Translator’s note: A literal back-translation reads as follows:
God, bless America
this ground that I love.
Stand beside America, guide America
with light from above, even amid a dark night.
From the mountain ranges, through the great plains, to the vast ocean.
God, bless America, my beloved homeland.
God, bless America, my beloved homeland.]
On the very night of 9/11, on the steps in front of the Capitol close to a hundred Congresspersons gathered and, hand in hand, sang “God Bless America.” That scene was broadcast by television nationwide.
Truly this scene is the essence of patriotism, causing one to feel the zeal of the Zealots. The fact is that during such a craze, soldiers were dispatched to Iraq; great volumes of armaments have been used for murder.
Publications
