Post by kriss on Feb 15, 2021 14:35:53 GMT -5
The Star of David for the Jewish People and the World
Some say that the six-pointed star was etched onto David's shield in battle, but there's no archaeology or literature to prove that; neither is this design found anywhere in Scripture.
However, this "Star of David" (often referred to by Jews and Muslims as the Seal of Solomon) had been discovered in a few ancient Israeli synagogues, such as in northern Israel going all the way back to the sixth century before the time of Yeshua (Jesus).
This doesn't mean that it wasn't a symbol used by King David, it just means that no archaeological evidence has been found for it.
The Star of David was also found on a synagogue in Capernaum (3rd century AD), a village on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, where Yeshua spent much of His time.The Birth of a National Symbol for the Jewish people
The star’s first significant use as a symbol of Jewish identity may have occurred in Prague, 1354 when Bohemian Emperor Charles IV either allowed or ordered the Jews to raise their own flag, bearing the Star of David.
In Prague, the Star of David was also printed on book covers and title pages as well as engraved on cemetery headstones. From there, the symbol started spreading throughout Jewish communities of Europe.
According to Israeli art historian Dr. Alec Mishory, up to the 19th century, the star was merely a secular decoration that marked Jewish publications and otherwise differentiated Jews from their competitors.
But as the Jewish people became more integrated into Christian communities, especially in the early 19th century, Mishory writes on the Israel Ministry of Affairs website that the star took on religious significance:
“Jews needed a symbol of Judaism parallel to the cross, the universal symbol of Christianity.
In particular, they wanted something to adorn the walls of the modern Jewish house of worship that would be symbolic like the cross.
"This is why the Star of David became prominent in the nineteenth century and why it was later used on [Jewish] ritual objects and in synagogues and eventually reached Poland and Russia."
The widespread popularity of the star by the late 1800s is perhaps the main reason the World Zionist Congress adopted it onto its own flag, which served as a unifying symbol of the Zionist movement:“With a flag one can lead men wherever one wants to, even into the Promised Land,” wrote Theodor Herzl, the movement's founder.
“When the new land first comes in sight, our new flag will be raised on the staff. At present we do not have any.
I am thinking of a white flag with seven gold stars. The white field signifies our new, clean life, and the seven stars, our desire to start this new life under the banner of labor.” (Diaries of Theodor Herzl, 175)
Herzl's drawing of a flag in his diary also incorporated a Star of David, but not the Lion of Judah or the blue stripes.
David Wolffsohn (1856–1914), who succeeded Herzl, becoming the second president of the Zionist Congress, is often credited for placing the blue stripes on the flag. He wrote this in his memoirs: “One of the many problems with which I had to deal was that of deciding with which flag we should drape the hall. The question troubled me considerably. We would obviously have to create a flag, since we had none….
“Suddenly, I got a brainwave: We already had a flag — the blue and white of the tallith…. We had but to unfurl it before the eyes of the Jewish people and the world at large!” (quoted in Theodor Herzl, A Biography, as quoted in Forward magazine)
A tragic irony is that the Nazis also used the now popular Jewish symbol of the star to identify Jews for discrimination, persecution, and extermination by ordering them to wear a bright yellow six-pointed star labeled “Jude.”
Star of David printed on yellow fabric with the German word Jude (Jew) had to be worn by the Jewish people. (Wikicommons)
The unfathomable human destruction associated with this star infused it with a spiritual sense of sacredness it never had before, according to Professor Gershom Scholem in his book Magen David: History of a Symbol.
Some believe it is in defiance to the near genocide of an entire race of Jews that the Star of David was officially adopted into the flag of the reborn State of Israel in 1948, a symbol that Am Yisrael Chai — The People of Israel Live!
“The blue and white stripes which symbolize a life of purity, guided by the precepts of the Torah, and the Star of David, which symbolizes rebirth and new life for the Jewish people, tie the State of Israel, through its flag, to the past, present and future,” writes Mishory. (MFA)
free.messianicbible.com/feature/discover-meaning-king-davids-shield-israeli-flag-origins-star-david/
Some say that the six-pointed star was etched onto David's shield in battle, but there's no archaeology or literature to prove that; neither is this design found anywhere in Scripture.
However, this "Star of David" (often referred to by Jews and Muslims as the Seal of Solomon) had been discovered in a few ancient Israeli synagogues, such as in northern Israel going all the way back to the sixth century before the time of Yeshua (Jesus).
This doesn't mean that it wasn't a symbol used by King David, it just means that no archaeological evidence has been found for it.
The Star of David was also found on a synagogue in Capernaum (3rd century AD), a village on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, where Yeshua spent much of His time.The Birth of a National Symbol for the Jewish people
The star’s first significant use as a symbol of Jewish identity may have occurred in Prague, 1354 when Bohemian Emperor Charles IV either allowed or ordered the Jews to raise their own flag, bearing the Star of David.
In Prague, the Star of David was also printed on book covers and title pages as well as engraved on cemetery headstones. From there, the symbol started spreading throughout Jewish communities of Europe.
According to Israeli art historian Dr. Alec Mishory, up to the 19th century, the star was merely a secular decoration that marked Jewish publications and otherwise differentiated Jews from their competitors.
But as the Jewish people became more integrated into Christian communities, especially in the early 19th century, Mishory writes on the Israel Ministry of Affairs website that the star took on religious significance:
“Jews needed a symbol of Judaism parallel to the cross, the universal symbol of Christianity.
In particular, they wanted something to adorn the walls of the modern Jewish house of worship that would be symbolic like the cross.
"This is why the Star of David became prominent in the nineteenth century and why it was later used on [Jewish] ritual objects and in synagogues and eventually reached Poland and Russia."
The widespread popularity of the star by the late 1800s is perhaps the main reason the World Zionist Congress adopted it onto its own flag, which served as a unifying symbol of the Zionist movement:“With a flag one can lead men wherever one wants to, even into the Promised Land,” wrote Theodor Herzl, the movement's founder.
“When the new land first comes in sight, our new flag will be raised on the staff. At present we do not have any.
I am thinking of a white flag with seven gold stars. The white field signifies our new, clean life, and the seven stars, our desire to start this new life under the banner of labor.” (Diaries of Theodor Herzl, 175)
Herzl's drawing of a flag in his diary also incorporated a Star of David, but not the Lion of Judah or the blue stripes.
David Wolffsohn (1856–1914), who succeeded Herzl, becoming the second president of the Zionist Congress, is often credited for placing the blue stripes on the flag. He wrote this in his memoirs: “One of the many problems with which I had to deal was that of deciding with which flag we should drape the hall. The question troubled me considerably. We would obviously have to create a flag, since we had none….
“Suddenly, I got a brainwave: We already had a flag — the blue and white of the tallith…. We had but to unfurl it before the eyes of the Jewish people and the world at large!” (quoted in Theodor Herzl, A Biography, as quoted in Forward magazine)
A tragic irony is that the Nazis also used the now popular Jewish symbol of the star to identify Jews for discrimination, persecution, and extermination by ordering them to wear a bright yellow six-pointed star labeled “Jude.”
Star of David printed on yellow fabric with the German word Jude (Jew) had to be worn by the Jewish people. (Wikicommons)
The unfathomable human destruction associated with this star infused it with a spiritual sense of sacredness it never had before, according to Professor Gershom Scholem in his book Magen David: History of a Symbol.
Some believe it is in defiance to the near genocide of an entire race of Jews that the Star of David was officially adopted into the flag of the reborn State of Israel in 1948, a symbol that Am Yisrael Chai — The People of Israel Live!
“The blue and white stripes which symbolize a life of purity, guided by the precepts of the Torah, and the Star of David, which symbolizes rebirth and new life for the Jewish people, tie the State of Israel, through its flag, to the past, present and future,” writes Mishory. (MFA)
free.messianicbible.com/feature/discover-meaning-king-davids-shield-israeli-flag-origins-star-david/
