“Shlomo had 70,000 men to carry loads and another 80,000 stonecutters in the hills, besides Shlomo’s 3,300 supervisors who were in charge of the people doing the work.” – 1 Kings 5:29
Alrighty, so when we last left off, we were in the midst of discussing how Solomon had conscripted a ton of laborers from his kingdom.
The purpose was to assist King Hiram’s men with the work of cutting and transporting the large number of trees needed to build the house for God.
There’s actually a parallel account of this contained in 2nd Chronicles:
“Shlomo took a census of all the foreigners in the land of Israel, following the pattern of the census of David his father; they were found to number 153,600. He appointed 70,000 of them to carry loads, 80,000 to be stonecutters in the hills, and 3,600 as supervisors to assign the people their work.” – 2 Chronicles 2:16-17
So it turns out these 153,600 men were gentile homies.
The original Hebrew is ENOSH HA’GERIM.
Enosh (אֱנוֹשׁ) = mankind, human beings, people.
Ha-gerim (הַגֵּרִים) = the sojourners, resident aliens, foreigners living in the land.
So this literally translates to “mankind from the Gentiles” or something like that.
A smoother translation would be “the people who were resident foreigners in Israel.”
Now, one thing to keep in mind is that a GER in the Tanach ain’t necessarily a tourist or a passing traveler.
A GER is usually a foreigner who has settled in Israel and lives under Israel’s authority.
Depending on the context, such a person might be very integrated into Israelite society, but the word itself does not automatically mean “full convert” or “proselyte.”
However, there’s something interesting in the next verse I wanna point out.
In both 1 Kings 5 and 2nd Chronicles, it says that supervisors were sent to look over these “people.”
The Hebrew term for “people” being used here is AM.
This is a term very often used for God’s covenant people.
In other words, Israel.
In fact, one of the most common expressions in the Bible is “My people” (‘ammi), where God refers to Israel as His people.
Some examples include:
“Let My people go…” (Israel)
“I will be their God, and they will be My people.“
“Hear, O My people…”
My point is that these ENOSH HA’GERIM were considered part of Israel.
Even some modern translators have started to reflect this nuance by using the term “proselyte.”
They’ve hit the nail on the head with that one, baby!
These were non-Hebrew homies who had moved to Israel and had pledged allegiance to Israel’s God.
But like most immigrants throughout history (and honestly, like most immigrants today), they still hung out mostly with their own kind.
They hadn’t tried to fully blend into Hebrew culture, and they weren’t born Israelites.
That made it a lot easier politically for Solomon to assign them the backbreaking work of quarrying stones for the Temple.
Picking native-born Hebrews for that job would have caused a much bigger uproar.
Still, these 150,000 men weren’t slaves or outsiders.
They had chosen to become part of Israel.
They were official Israelites…just not born that way.
So here’s the takeaway.
Solomon viewed these foreigners as a separate category…even though they were still officially part of Israel legally, spiritually, and covenantally.
Was it ideal?
No.
But seriously, are things ever gonna be ideal this side of heaven?
So yeah, Solomon still saw these guys as a separate category when it was convenient for him.
That part’s uncomfortable.
But here’s what’s also true.
These men were in.
They were part of Israel.
And to me, that’s actually a beautiful picture of what happens when a gentile gets grafted into the commonwealth of Israel.
You ain’t a second-class citizen in God’s eyes.
You’re just…in.
I say that from personal experience.
There was a season in my life when I had an inferiority complex around Jewish people.
This was when I was attending a Messianic Congregation in San Francisco.
I lied about being Jewish during that time.
But after a period of deep immersion in Torah, I don’t know exactly when and how it happened, but the complex dropped.
Again, there was no lightning bolt moment or something.
Just one day, the realization that I was a full-fledged member of HaShem’s kingdom just set in, and I no longer felt inferior.
My identity as a child of God had solidified healthily.
Unfortunately, there are a lot of gentile believers who still have a severe inferiority complex towards Jews.
You know the type I’m talking about.
I’m referring to Gentile believers who deliberately attend Messianic Congregations or even regular shuls simply because they wanna be around Jews.
They’ll even wear Kippahs outside of worship services to flaunt just how Jewish they’ve become.
Inwardly, they think it’s cool because “I’m part of God’s chosen people now.”
This used to be me, by the way, so if you feel called out, I ain’t attacking you.
Or then you have Gentile believers who have Jewish spouses.
Man, this is a whole separate category in and of itself.
Because they have become one flesh with another Jew, they suddenly think God Himself has elevated them above every other Gentile in existence, whether on planet earth or otherwise.
Things get particularly bad when they hold leadership positions at their congregations.
But again, this is just the same inferiority complex manifesting in a different form.
At the end of the day, a superiority complex is just a cover-up for deep-seated feelings of inferiority.
This actually reminds me of a dude, who we’ll just call Ben (since that’s what his name is), who claimed to be a Jew simply because his papa was half Jewish.
So that would make the homie 25% Jewish.
Man, he was hanging onto that 25% Jewish DNA for dear life.
I could just feel the condescending vibes of superiority seething out of his being towards me when we interacted.
But as I just said, feelings of superiority towards others are nothing more nor less than a cover-up for identity insecurities.
That’s why I believe the chief cause of anti-Semitism in the world boils down to feelings of inferiority towards God’s chosen people, period.
You grow to hate the person or people group that serves as a constant reminder of your inferiority.
But those feelings of inferiority are your problem, man.
It all comes down to not being comfortable with who you are.
You still haven’t accepted who God created you to be.
If God created you a Wong, stop trying to be a Weinstein.
If he made you a Gonzales, stop trying to be a Goldberg.
If he made you a Smith, stop trying to be a Shapiro…
And stop embracing retarded white supremacist theology that claims Jesus was a descendant of white Europeans who migrated to the Middle East.
What a bunch of bogus bull crap!
Jesus was a Jew, and didn’t look anything like the blue-eyed, pale-skinned caricatures that exist in churches all over the Western world.
The bottom line is, until you fully accept who God created you to be, warts and all, you’re always gonna struggle with feelings of inferiority.
Whether you’re a Jew or a gentile.
Black or white.
Short or tall.
Or whatever.
Ya feel me?
Done.
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“There is neither Jew nor Gentile,
neither slave nor freeman,
neither male nor female;
for in union with the Messiah Yeshua,
you are all one.
Also, if you belong to the Messiah,
you are seed of Avraham and
heirs according to the promise.”
-Galatians 3:28-29
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