Bill Cosby and the Children of Israel
Posted: Sat May 09, 2015 4:06 pm
I went to the Bill Cosby concert in Atlanta last week and he told a quite hilarious story about going to Church at the age of 4 1/2 years old. The preacher started talking about the "Children of Israel" Cosby didn't exactly know who the children of Israel were, but he knew that he was a child, so he assumed he must be one of the children of Israel. At first the preacher started praising the children of Israel and saying how holy they were. Cosby started feeling proud of himself. He was so holy that God loved him. The tone suddenly changed and the preacher started to talk about the sins of the children of Israel. The preacher started talking about how God was preparing to punish the children of Israel for their disobedience and crimes against him. Cosby became scared. The preacher because more intense and talked about the torments the children of Israel were going to suffer. The congregation started to respond, shouting "burn them," "toss them in the void" "smite them." Cosby was in terror, thinking that the congregation was going to grab him at any moment and murder him. Cosby wanted to scream out, "No, no, don’t hurt the children. I'm just a child, Don't do it."…
One could easily see how an early proto-Jesus cult could terrify and split the Jewish community by claiming to be the real children of Israel, while attacking the actual Jewish leaders as those hated and condemned Children of Israel. The schizophrenic texts of the Hebrew Scripture could easily be turned against its readers. It made the children of Israel brand ripe for re-branding.
Here's an example of the negative attitude towards the Children of Israel from Hosea 9:
Even if they escape from destruction,
Egypt will gather them,
and Memphis will bury them.
Their treasures of silver will be taken over by briers,
and thorns will overrun their tents.
7
The days of punishment are coming,
the days of reckoning are at hand.
Let Israel know this.
Because your sins are so many
and your hostility so great,
the prophet is considered a fool,
the inspired person a maniac.
8
The prophet, along with my God,
is the watchman over Ephraim,[a]
yet snares await him on all his paths,
and hostility in the house of his God.
9
They have sunk deep into corruption,
as in the days of Gibeah.
God will remember their wickedness
and punish them for their sins.
Here's another example at Isaiah 24:
24 Look, the Lord is destroying this land.[a] He will clean out the land completely and force all the people to go far away. 2 At that time whatever happens to the common people will also happen to the priests. Slaves and masters will be the same. Women slaves and their women masters will be the same. Buyers and sellers will be the same. Those who borrow and those who lend will be the same. Bankers and those who owe the bank will be the same. 3 Everyone will be forced out of the land. All the wealth will be taken. This will happen because the Lord commanded it. 4 The country will be empty and sad. The world will be empty and weak. The great leaders of the people in this land will become weak.
5 The people have ruined the land. They did what God said was wrong. They did not obey God’s laws. They made an agreement with God a long time ago, but they broke their agreement with God. 6 The people living in this land are guilty of doing wrong, so God promised to destroy the land. The people will be punished, and only a few of them will survive.
Warmly,
Jay Raskin
One could easily see how an early proto-Jesus cult could terrify and split the Jewish community by claiming to be the real children of Israel, while attacking the actual Jewish leaders as those hated and condemned Children of Israel. The schizophrenic texts of the Hebrew Scripture could easily be turned against its readers. It made the children of Israel brand ripe for re-branding.
Here's an example of the negative attitude towards the Children of Israel from Hosea 9:
Even if they escape from destruction,
Egypt will gather them,
and Memphis will bury them.
Their treasures of silver will be taken over by briers,
and thorns will overrun their tents.
7
The days of punishment are coming,
the days of reckoning are at hand.
Let Israel know this.
Because your sins are so many
and your hostility so great,
the prophet is considered a fool,
the inspired person a maniac.
8
The prophet, along with my God,
is the watchman over Ephraim,[a]
yet snares await him on all his paths,
and hostility in the house of his God.
9
They have sunk deep into corruption,
as in the days of Gibeah.
God will remember their wickedness
and punish them for their sins.
Here's another example at Isaiah 24:
24 Look, the Lord is destroying this land.[a] He will clean out the land completely and force all the people to go far away. 2 At that time whatever happens to the common people will also happen to the priests. Slaves and masters will be the same. Women slaves and their women masters will be the same. Buyers and sellers will be the same. Those who borrow and those who lend will be the same. Bankers and those who owe the bank will be the same. 3 Everyone will be forced out of the land. All the wealth will be taken. This will happen because the Lord commanded it. 4 The country will be empty and sad. The world will be empty and weak. The great leaders of the people in this land will become weak.
5 The people have ruined the land. They did what God said was wrong. They did not obey God’s laws. They made an agreement with God a long time ago, but they broke their agreement with God. 6 The people living in this land are guilty of doing wrong, so God promised to destroy the land. The people will be punished, and only a few of them will survive.
Warmly,
Jay Raskin