Jewish history provides compelling evidence for the existence of God when one examines five historically unprecedented phenomena that defy the normal “rules of the history of nations”. The core thesis is that only a Being unbound by time—God—could have possessed the foresight required to explicitly promise and foresee these extraordinary events in the Hebrew Bible.
The five predicted and realized phenomena are:
- The Survival of the Jewish People: The continued existence of the Jewish people over the last 3000 years is historically remarkable. Ancient peoples who existed alongside the Israelites, such as the Hittites, the Canaanites, and the Jebusites, are now extinct. Even the greatest imperial nations that persecuted the Jews (like the Romans, the Egyptians, and the Persians) have faded away or “sit in twilight,” while the Jew remains, leading Mark Twain to ask the secret of their “immortality” and Leo Tolstoy to call the Jew “the emblem of eternity”. The Torah explicitly foretold this persistence, stating that “you, the children of Jacob shall never be wiped out”.
- Worldwide Exile (Dispersion): Throughout most of their history, the Jewish people have been scattered across all five continents, constantly moving. Sociologists suggest that scattering a people is a method intended to assimilate them and cause them to disappear. Despite this “grave threat of global exile,” the Jewish people have remained a distinct entity, a fact clearly foreseen in the Torah, which nevertheless remained convinced of their survival.
- Remaining Few in Number: The total number of Jews globally has rarely surpassed 1% of the world population and has never exceeded 16 million. This small size is especially remarkable given that millennia ago the Jewish population (around 12 million) was comparable to the Han Dynasty of China. This small population, coupled with worldwide dispersion and high levels of persecution, makes their survival even more striking. The Torah clearly stated this outcome: “And you shall remain few in number among the nations where God shall lead you…”.
- Enduring Anti-Semitism: Jew hatred has consistently baffled historians due to its longevity, universality, intensity (evidenced by the long list of words created for it), and, crucially, its irrationality. Anti-Semitism attributes contradictory characteristics to Jews (e.g., being money-grabbing capitalists and revolutionary communists). Furthermore, while sociologists often suggest assimilation ends persecution, Jewish attempts to assimilate, such as in Germany, ultimately led to the most intense persecution seen in modern history. The Torah clearly forewarned the Jewish people of this intense, irrational persecution they would face in exile.
- Remarkable Global Impact: Despite being intensely persecuted, few in number, and dispersed all over the globe, Judaism has influenced mankind in an astonishing way. The majority of the world today—comprising Christians, Muslims, and Jews—believes in the God of Abraham, even though the world was largely pagan or polytheistic in Abraham’s time. This occurred despite Abraham having no army, empire, or political power. Furthermore, Judaism introduced many of the world’s most cherished modern values, including the importance of family, social responsibility, education, justice and equality, the value of human life, and peace as an ideal. As the 2nd President of America, John Adams, noted, the Hebrews “have contributed more to civilize men than any other nation”. God told Abraham, “all the families of the earth shall bless themselves by you,” and the prophet Isaiah foretold that Israel would be the “light unto the nations”.
The combination of worldwide exile, small numbers, and intense persecution forms an “unprecedented recipe for national extinction”. The fact that the Jewish people have not only survived these setbacks but also thrived in the global conversation of ideas, all while being clearly and specifically foretold in ancient scripture, leads to the conclusion that this trajectory is not mere luck. As Blaise Pascal, the founder of probability theory, once summarized the proof of God’s existence: “The Jews, your Majesty ― the Jews”.
