Welcome back dear readers. This post is in truth a hangover, or aftermath from the “All The Jews Fit To Print” series and this post arises because as things would have it, there I was going along after years of hard slog on the series and suddenly the question came into my mind: “Well, if this whole ‘Jew’ & ‘Gentile’ business is a bunch of corrupt rubbish and there are no valid uses of the term ‘Jew’ in the OT, are there any valid uses of the term ‘Jew’ in the NT? Moreover, what on earth is going on with the use of the word ‘Jew’ in verses 2:9 & 3:9 of the Book of Revelation???”

Just to be clear about the verses in question here they are:

“I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.” Revelation 2:9 KJV

“Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.” Revelation 3:9 KJV

Now dear readers, I’m pretty sure you’ve seen these verses being bandied about to attack Jews in these times somewhere on a social media video site, blog or comment board as their usage is ubiquitous. However, Revelation 2 & 3 were not written about these times. If you will recall all the way back at the very beginning of our “All The Jews Fit To Print“ series in Part 1 verse 2:9 was indeed being used by William Finck in roughly such a manner. So, to refresh our memory of the affair let’s just have a quick look:

“For this reason Jesus Himself told the church at Smyrna, in Revelation 2:9: “I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.

Just in case that is not understood, Jesus also said to the church at Philadelphia, in Revelation 3:9: “Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.

So according to Jesus Himself, the people calling themselves Jews at this time are not “real” Jews, meaning that they are not actually of the tribe of Judah. But how can that be?” 

So, firstly we can see this verse is being used as proof of something or other regarding Jews being illegitimate or not, OT Jews as opposed to NT Jews and all the rest of it. The problem of course with this kind of stuff is that it makes no sense on so many levels. Since we’ve already dealt with that in Part 1 we won’t rehash it here.

However, if you are ready to continue let’s get to the meat and potatoes with this Book of Revelation verse, which actually has nothing to do with the Jews of today whatsoever!

Did you notice folks that the translator Mr Finck (or is that Mr Rat-Finck?), is postulating that this verse, because it appears in the Book of Revelation must therefore be about these times now? Folks, this is nonsensical. In fact, I have to suggest that it is so nonsensical it must be on purpose, or that Mr Finck is a delusional, mad, rank amateur babbling and prattling away on his mission talking rubbish and tomfoolery all day long. Do I hear you, if you are perhaps a fan of Mr Finck, spluttering and getting ready to open up your Thor chest of ass-kicking whoop whoop? Well, let me calm you down with a bit of honesty here that I myself, my little ol’ wee self, used to have this very idea too, that the Book of Revelation was necessarily about the ‘End Times’. When exactly those times were I couldn’t be sure. However, given the madness of the times in which I found myself (these times), it was easy to conclude that these times now were the end times! Ha ha.

So, when exactly are these ‘End Times’? Well, given that the Book of Revelation is readily the most esoteric and visionary book of all the books of scripture and that the vast bulk of it is rather unfathomable or simply cannot be interpreted in a literal sense (for example: the explanation of Revelation 12), we can be sure that the ‘End Times’ are something other than what is so hysterically trumpeted these days.

‘Why is that?’ you ask.

Well, it’s because that’s what all the crazy people say; seers, soothsayers, astrologists, numerologists, prophets, theologians and mystics from a to z. Even the atheist ‘New Age’ pagan, science-based earth worshippers are decrying the apocalypse daily; ‘Climate change!’ ‘Earth is dying!’

Well, the blind will lead the blind straight into the ditch. It’s just one big ol’ open air asylum out there folks each wedded to their own version of the catastrophic end, none wedded to Christ.

So you can put the crack pipe down and breathe the free air again. Relax and enjoy the revelation that the Book of Revelation is not the ‘End Times’ that most people seem to believe!

Just for reference, here is another classic example of this basic problem of misinterpretation of the Book of Revelation:

“And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see. And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer. And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see. And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword. And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine. And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see. And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.” Revelation 6:1-8 KJV

The four horsemen of the Apocalypse: Conquest. War. Famine. Death.

Folks, is it just me or do far too many people hold some misguided belief that the four horsemen are just going to suddenly arrive and do their thing and that that time is now upon us? Why is it that apparently no one is willing to consider these ‘End Time’ prophecies were applicable in the very moment they were revealed?

At any rate, getting back to the Book of Revelation verses in question here they are:

“And to the angel of the church of Smyrna write thou, These things saith the first and the last, that was dead, and liveth. I know thy tribulation, and thy poverty, but thou art rich; and thou art blasphemed of them, that say, that they be Jews, and be not, but be the synagogue of Satan.”  Revelation 2:8,9 Wycliffe Bible

“Lo! I shall give to thee of the synagogue of Satan, which say that they be Jews, and be not, but lie. Lo! I shall make them, that they come, and worship before thy feet; and they shall know, that I loved thee,” Revelation 3:9 Wycliffe Bible

As we came to understand in our series “All The Jews Fit To Print” that the word ‘Jew’ has no business being in the Old Testament, what on earth is this word ‘Jew’ doing in the Book of Revelation?

I have already suggested that people apparently attribute every word of the Book of Revelation to the ‘End Times’, which, of course must be today. (How many people are literally scouring the Book of Revelation this very moment looking for proof that some particular event or figure of recent years, months or weeks is accounted for and prophesied?) However, the verses 2:8,9 & 3:9 are not about today at all but the seven churches of Roman Asia.

“Blessed is he that readeth, and he that heareth the words of this prophecy, and keepeth those things that be written in it; for the time is nigh. John to the seven churches, that be in Asia, grace and peace to you, of him that is, and that was, and that is to coming [grace to you, and peace, of him that is, and that was, and that is to come]; and of the seven spirits, that be in the sight of his throne; and of Jesus Christ, that is a faithful witness, the first begotten of dead men [the first begotten of dead], and prince of kings of the earth; which loved us, and washed us from our sins in his blood, and made us a kingdom, and priests to God and to his Father [and priests to God and his Father]; to him be glory and empire into worlds of worlds. Amen.” Revelation 1:3-6 Wycliffe Bible (Underline mine)

Since we are talking about a period in the first century for the last time what is going on with the word ‘Jew’ in these verses? (Note: It is considered John was exiled to Patmos during a time of persecution under the Roman rule of Domitian in the late 1st century.)

The answer, as we saw in our “All The Jews Fit To Print” series is that the word should actually be ‘Judean’. Thus the verses should be rendered as follows:

“And to the angel of the church of Smyrna write thou, These things saith the first and the last, that was dead, and liveth. I know thy tribulation, and thy poverty, but thou art rich; and thou art blasphemed of them, that say, that they be Judeans, and be not, but be the synagogue of Satan.” Revelation 2:8,9 Wycliffe Bible (Edit: ‘Judeans’ mine)

“Lo! I shall give to thee of the synagogue of Satan, which say that they be Judeans, and be not, but lie. Lo! I shall make them, that they come, and worship before thy feet; and they shall know, that I loved thee,” Revelation 3:9 Wycliffe Bible (Edit: ‘Judeans’ mine)

So, what’s going on here? Well, let’s focus on verses 2:8,9 and leave 3:9 as it is essentially redundant.

In verses 2:8,9 properly rendered we’ve got people claiming to be Judeans in and around this church of Smyrna but there’s just one wee problem. They are not. They are the synagogue of Satan. Worse, they are actually blaspheming the genuine members of the Church of Smyrna. Folks, before we carry on with these verses can you see how markedly different the Wycliffe Bible verses are from the KJV?

“I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.” Revelation 2:9 KJV

Now, the KJV translators cannot be blamed for people erroneously believing the Book of Revelation is about these very days, but nonetheless I hope you can see how the KJV confuses the reality of the situation at Smyrna? The KJV does not make clear in the slightest that some group of fraudsters were haranguing and blaspheming the genuine church. Here again is the Wycliff version for comparison:

“And to the angel of the church of Smyrna write thou, These things saith the first and the last, that was dead, and liveth. I know thy tribulation, and thy poverty, but thou art rich; and thou art blasphemed of them, that say, that they be Judeans, and be not, but be the synagogue of Satan.” Revelation 2:8,9 Wycliffe Bible (Edit: ‘Judeans’ & underline mine)

Ok, so who exactly are they, these fraudsters, the synagogue of Satan? Well, we know the answer don’t we? They are Hamitic Canaanites (a.k.a. ‘Jews’ these last several centuries).

Folks, the ‘Jews’ that we know today don’t really get their start as a particular lot until 72AD with the Jerusalem Wars. Prior to the time of Christ the temple had Israelites and Canaanites practicing the “tradition of the elders”.

“Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying, Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread.” Matthew 15:1,2 KJV

The Canaanites not being Christ’s people were, and continue to be, determined to carry on this system; it’s their system. Yet by 72AD most Israelites would likely have converted to follow the Apostles, as they were the ones to whom Christ was sent.

“But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Matthew 15:24 KJV

However, no doubt there were some Israelites, which did not accept their own Messiah. (There are many sceptics and backsliders among us today.)

“And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Matthew 8:11,12 KJV

So, as regards the goings on at the church at Smyrna there would have been genuine followers of the Apostles being blasphemed and abused by the ‘tradition of the elders’ old-guard Canaanites (and Israelite traitors), to modify their teachings and/or include certain rituals and observances etc. In short, the apostolic church at Smyrna would have been getting hammered to corrupt The Truth.

So, having stated that here is a little on Smyrna from Kosherpedia:

“At the end of the Hellenistic period, in 197 BC, the city suddenly cut its ties with King Eumenes of Pergamum and instead appealed to Rome for help. Because Rome and Smyrna had no ties until then, Smyrna created a cult of Rome to establish a bond, and the cult eventually became widespread through the whole Roman Empire. As of 195 BC, the city of Rome started to be deified, in the cult to the goddess Roma. In this sense, the Smyrneans can be considered as the creators of the goddess Roma.

In 133 BC, when the last Attalid king Attalus III died without an heir, his will conferred his entire kingdom, including Smyrna, to the Romans. They organized it into the Roman province of Asia, making Pergamum the capital. Smyrna, however, as a major seaport, became a leading city in the newly constituted province.

Roman and Byzantine period

As one of the principal cities of Roman Asia,^[12] Smyrna vied with Ephesus and Pergamum for the title “First City of Asia.”

A Christian church and a bishopric existed here from a very early time, probably originating in the considerable Jewish colony.

It was one of the seven churches addressed in the Book of Revelation.^[13] Saint Ignatius of Antioch visited Smyrna and later wrote letters to its bishop, Polycarp. A mob of Jews and pagans abetted the martyrdom of Polycarp in AD 153.^[12

After a destructive earthquake in 178 AD, Smyrna was rebuilt in the Roman period (2nd century AD) under the emperor Marcus Aurelius. Aelius Aristides wrote a letter to Marcus Aurelius and his son Commodus, inviting them to become the new founders of the city.[14] The bust of the emperor’s wife Faustina on the second arch of the western stoa confirms this fact.[citation needed]

Polycrates reports a succession of bishops including Polycarp of Smyrna, as well as others in nearby cities such as Melito of Sardis. Related to that time the German historian W. Bauer wrote:

“Asian Jewish Christianity received in turn the knowledge that henceforth the “church” would be open without hesitation to the Jewish influence mediated by Christians, coming not only from the apocalyptic traditions, but also from the synagogue with its practices concerning worship, which led to the appropriation of the Jewish passover observance. Even the observance of the sabbath by Christians appears to have found some favor in Asia…we find that in post-apostolic times, in the period of the formation of ecclesiastical structure, the Jewish Christians in these regions come into prominence.””

Ok, so that’s a fair bit of information for us to work with. The first thing we should note about Kosherpedia is that the site is dedicated to proclaiming two things: first that the ‘Jews’ are “God’s chosen people” (and therefore that Christianity is just a two thousand year hoax based upon false teachings of a false messiah), and second that a certain set of atrocious, barbaric and impossible events took place upon innocent ‘Jews’ in a savage war not too many decades ago in Europe. All data they can get their hands on and edit will reflect these basic convictions. So, in this little verse if we then just change out the word ‘Jew’ and swap in ‘Judean’ (as it should be), things will make sense…

“…probably originating in the considerable Judean colony.”

“A mob of Judeans and pagans…”

This final paragraph cited needs a little more explaining and we should note that the paragraph actually comes to us courtesy of W. Bauer. (Bauer is a name known as used by Jews that converted to Christianity.)

“Asian Jewish Christianity received in turn the knowledge that henceforth the “church” would be open without hesitation to the Jewish influence mediated by Christians, coming not only from the apocalyptic traditions, but also from the synagogue with its practices concerning worship, which led to the appropriation of the Jewish passover observance. Even the observance of the sabbath by Christians appears to have found some favor in Asia…we find that in post-apostolic times, in the period of the formation of ecclesiastical structure, the Jewish Christians in these regions come into prominence.”

First off, what on earth is “Jewish Christianity”? Well, it is nothing but a brazen attempt to re-write history and claim that ‘Israelites’ and ‘Jews’ are the same people. Since we know that is not the case and that ‘Jews’ are Hamitic Canaanites we can toss this intro as the red herring that it is.

Next up, is of course the very synagogue of Satan influence that appears in the Book of Revelation; Canaanites (and Israelite traitors), practicing their ‘tradition of the elders’ religion looking to push in to the church at Smyrna by forcing their old law rituals and traditions be observed.

^“.. and thou art blasphemed of them, that say, that they be Judeans, and be not, but be the synagogue of Satan.” Revelation 2:9 Wycliffe Bible (Edit: ‘Judeans’ mine)

Now, not only would this satanic lot blaspheme this church at Smyrna for resisting their attempts to force their junk on the fledgling church but also we are clearly told the church would be tested and that if they held true they would be rewarded.

“Dread thou nothing of these things, which thou shalt suffer. Lo! the devil shall send some of you into prison, that ye be tempted [that ye be proved]; and ye shall have tribulation ten days. Be thou faithful to the death [Be thou faithful unto the death], and I shall give to thee a crown of life.” Revelation 2:10 Wycliffe Bible 

For a more modern take on the scene let’s have a look at the Living Bible translation:

“I know how much you suffer for the Lord, and I know all about your poverty (but you have heavenly riches!). I know the slander of those opposing you, who say that they are Jews Judeans — the children of God — but they aren’t, for they support the cause of Satan. Stop being afraid of what you are about to suffer—for the devil will soon throw some of you into prison to test you. You will be persecuted for ‘ten days.’ Remain faithful even when facing death and I will give you the crown of life — an unending, glorious future.^[c] Let everyone who can hear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches: He who is victorious shall not be hurt by the Second Death.” Revelation 29:11 The Living Bible (Strikethrough mine)

Lastly, here is what the Aramaic Peshitta has to say:

“I know they works, and affliction, and poverty, but thous art rich; and the blasphemy of them which say of themselves that they are Jihudoyee, and are not, but the synagogue of Satan.” Revelation 2:8 Aramaic Peshitta

Now, folks, I’ve previously admitted I’m no scholar of either Greek, or Hebrew, and now I will state for the record that I am no scholar of Aramaic either. However, at a flying guess I’d be inclined to suggest that ‘Jihudoyee’ resembled ‘Judean’ more than ‘Jew’. Now, resemblance doesn’t necessarily pass the academic sniff test, but then again it may reveal enough. However, here is what Strong’s has to say about the term Judea (H3081):

“Transliteration: yᵊhûḏ”

† יְהוּד proper name, of a territory Judah (secondary formative from following according to M^{§ 68. b} Buhl; compare Biblical Hebrew H3063 יְהוּדָה);”

“יְהוּד Yᵉhûwd, yeh-hood’; (Aramaic) contracted from a form corresponding to H3063; properly, Judah, hence, Judaea:—Jewry, Judah, Judea.

Now, why Strong’s bothered to put ‘Jewry’ in there is of course a mystery but if it sticks out like a sore thumb it probably is, and given how heretical we have found the KJV to be likely this word is there as a result of working with corrupt founding material to start with; we can toss ‘Jewry’ and what we are left with makes sense. We can also see that transliteration of ‘Jihudoyee’ as ‘Judean’ would make sense. (Just for the record, when I attempted to search ‘Judean’ in Strong’s the search came back empty: “There are no concordance results for “Judean” in the KJV”. Hmmm. Is that Strong’s telling us that any time we should have a translation of ‘Judean’ the vaunted KJV has given us instead ‘Jew’? Wow.)

At any rate, if we really want to boil it all down the following is what the verse should say:

“I know your affliction and distress and pressing trouble and your poverty—but you are rich! and how you are abused and reviled and slandered by those who say they are Jews Judeans and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan (Jews/Canaanites).” Revelation 2:9 Amplified Bible (Strikethrough and brackets mine)

Folks, does that get straight and to the point enough for you to understand the heresy going on in this verse? Let’s note too, this heresy is found in just about every Bible translation going. Synagogue of Satan indeed!

Now, as for the “Jewish Christians” described by W. Bauer that came into prominence this would likely be another case of red-herring misdirection and should read ‘Judean Christians’, meaning simply that they (Judeans), had wandered from Jerusalem (or the land of Judea) and settled and taken up their calling in Smyrna.

So dear readers, having done the hard yards to establish the true identity of today’s ‘Jews’ in the “All The Jews Fit To Print“ series we are now able to relatively easily correct blatant falsehoods in the record being promoted all over the world (and all over the shop), as they are by Jews and Jew-bashers alike.