What Does ‘The Jews Killed the Prophets’ Really Mean?

When Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik killed 14 people in San Bernardino, California, many people blamed Islam or Muslims in general for the killings; but when a white Christian, like Dylann Roof, a self-avowed white supremacist who, in June 2015, killed nine black worshippers during a Church Bible study class in Charleston, South Carolina, nobody blamed Christianity or white Christians in general.

We should know better than to blame a whole group, especially a minority group, for the evil actions of a few of its members.

After all we do not blame all Arabs for the Quraysh Tribe’s members attempt to kill Messenger Muhammad. Following the migration of most of the Prophet’s Companions to Madinah, the leaders of Makkah plotted a joint tribes attack on Prophet Muhammad using Abu Jahl’s suggestion that “a band of young men, one from each tribe, should strike Muhammad simultaneously with their swords, so the blood-money would be spread over them all, and thus could not be exacted.” (Ar-Raheeq Al-Makhtum).

We have a lot to learn from the Qur’an’s use, and some Muslim tafsir scholars misuse of the accusation that “The Jews Killed The Prophets”. So who killed the Jewish Prophets mentioned in the Bible? Not the masses of the Jews; but the powerful Kings and nobility. There were a total of 42 kings who ruled in the Kingdom of Israel and the Kingdom of Judah, from Saul, David, and Solomon, and later the 19 kings of the Northern Kingdom (Israel) and 19 kings plus one queen (Athaliah) of the Southern Kingdom (Judah).

The Qur’an states several times that both Allah’s Prophets to the Jews and to the Pagans have been killed. Tragically, the overwhelming majority of Allah’s Prophets to the polytheists were ignored, rejected, persecuted or, as was the case with the Rass; killed. (Qur’an 25:38) As Al-Thalabi states: “There were many prophets in their midst, but they (the Rass) slew every prophet who rose among them.” (Al-Thalabi p.248)

Among the Jews very few prophets were killed: “Certainly We took a pledge from the Children of Israel and We sent Prophets to them. Whenever a Prophet brought them that which was not to their liking, they would impugn some of them, and some they would kill ( 5:70).

The only time in Jewish history of mass persecution of God’s Prophets occurred was in the lifetime of Prophet Elijah (I Kings 19:14) who told God: “I have been very jealous for the LORD; for [many of] the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and slain your prophets with the sword; and I, only I am left; and they seek to take my life away.”

Since the Jews were well known to have received 55 named prophets (Talmud Megillah 14a states 48 male and 7 female plus many unnamed prophets Quran 40:78: “We did send Prophets before you (O Mohamed) of them there are some whose story We related to you, and some whose story We have not related to you”.) we should not be surprised that the Qur’an states nine times that even the Jews killed prophets.

For example “And when it is said to them (Jews), “Believe in what Allah has sent down,” they say, “We believe in what was sent down to us [the Torah].” And they disbelieve in that which came after it [Gospel and Qur’an], while it is the truth confirming what is with them [the Torah]. Say (Muhammad to them): “Why then have you killed the Prophets of Allah afore time, if you indeed were believers?” (2:9, also see 2:61, 3:112, 3:31 and 3:183)

The statement that even some Jewish rulers killed God’s prophets also appears three times in the New Testament: Jesus said “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you.” (Luke 13:34); and Paul writes almost with joy that the Jews “killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets”
(1 Thessalonians 2:14-15); and the Book of Acts reports Stephen as declaring, just before his martyrdom: “Was there ever a prophet your fathers did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One [Jesus].” (Acts 7:52)

And of course there was the actual example in the Gospels of the Jewish King Herod as a prophet killer. The Herodians had already done away with Jesus’ cousin John when he criticized their personal family affairs (Mark 6:17-29). Now “King Herod heard [reports about Jesus’ healing and teaching] for Jesus’ name had become [well] known. Some were saying, “John the baptizer has been raised from the dead; and for this reason these powers work in him [Jesus].”

But others said, “It is Elijah.” And others said, “It is a prophet like one of the prophets of old.” But when Herod heard of it, he said, “John, whom I beheaded, has returned to life.” (Mark 6:14-16)

Over the centuries these verses have been used, frequently by many Christians and occasionally by some Muslims who hated Jews, to incite and justify attacks on the local Jewish communities of their own days. So it is important to explain both the Christian and the Islamic verses. I will also explain four additional verses that make a similar charge that come from the Hebrew Bible itself.

There are two narratives in the Hebrew Bible that relate how a Jewish king killed a specific prophet: The first is in 2 Chronicles and involves Zechariah son of Jehoiada the high priest who lived in the days of King Joash of Judah (ruled 835-796): “The spirit of God then invested Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest. He stood up before the people and said, ‘God says this, “Why transgress God’s commands to your certain ruin? For if you abandon God, he will abandon you.” They then plotted against him and, at the king’s order, stoned him in the courtyard of the Temple of God.” (2 Chronicles 24:20-21).

The second narrative appears in the Book of Prophet Jeremiah, during the reign of King Jehoiakim (ruled 609-598): “There was another man, who used to prophesy in God’s name, Uriah son of Shemaiah, from Kiriath-Jearim. He prophesied exactly the same things against this city and this country as (Prophet) Jeremiah. When King Jehoiakim with all his officers and all the chief men heard what he said, the king determined to put him to death. “On hearing this, Uriah took flight and escaped to Egypt. King Jehoiakim, however, sent Elnathan son of Achbor to Egypt with others, who brought Uriah back from Egypt and took him to King Jehoiakim, who had him put to the sword and his body thrown into the common burial ground.” (Jeremiah 26:20- 23).

Then there is the actual source of the exaggerated slander that ‘the Jews killed prophets’ found in the Biblical Book of Nehemiah which tells the story of Nehemiah’s role in the rebuilding of Jerusalem after the return of the Babylonian exiles. After rebuilding the city’s walls, Nehemiah gathers the Israelites together and commands them to obey the Torah law. A group of Levites [priests] then leads the people in a public confession. In describing the past sins of Israel the Levites declare, among other things: “They grew disobedient, rebelled against you [God] and thrust your Torah behind their backs; and they slaughtered your prophets who had reproved them to bring them back to you, and committed monstrous impieties” (Nehemiah 5:26).

Thus, these Levite priests dramatically and slanderously blamed Jews in general, for the specific sins of two Jewish Kings and their advisors and agents. Many religious leaders in various different religions are outraged by the sins and evils that powerful people can do; and in their anguish spread the blame much too broadly. In addition the worst time of attacks on God’s prophets was the time of Prophet Elijah. Prophet Elijah tells God (I Kings 19:14): “I have been very jealous for the LORD; for [many of] the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and slain your prophets with the sword; and I, only I am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.”

Perhaps Avtalion, a first century B.C.E. rabbi had this over-exaggerated slander in mind when he said: “Sages, be careful with your words, lest you incur the penalty of exile, and are called to a place where the waters of learning are impure, and the disciples that come after you drink of them and die; and the Heavenly Name is consequently profaned.” (Pirkei Avot 1:11) A generation after Avtalion there was a third example of a corrupt Jewish King: Herod, as a prophet killer. For the Herodians who killed Jesus’ cousin John, when he criticized their personal family affairs. (Mark 6:17-29).

So this trope had re-appeared in the New Testament charges; and later in the Qur’an. Yet we know that the actions of the polytheist assassins in Mecca who tried to kill Prophet Muhammad, are never blamed on the Arabs in general, or even on the Meccans or the Quraysh in general.