My Experience with the Tension in Jerusalem (Part 1)

I shot this video on May 13, 2012, while I was in Israel. What you're seeing is a group of Palestinian protesters marching around the "Old City" of Jerusalem. You may notice the young man at the very beginning who looks very unhappy with me, to which I was utterly oblivious as I marveled at this peculiar and foreign spectacle with touristic enthusiasm, completely enthralled by the intimidating roll of the "r" in the Arabic tongue. Before this trip, I was only vaguely aware of the conflict between the Palestinians and the Israelis over Jerusalem, and I'd like to share what I've learned (and some of the pictures I took!)

Jews, Israelites, and King David... the Convert??

In the time of Christ, there was a high degree of prejudice against non-Jews who wanted to worship God. Gentiles were not allowed to participate in worship at the temple in the same way as the Jews and were not seen by the Jews as spiritual equals. Modern Judaism does not carry this prejudice. They maintain that "converts" have the same status as those who are born Jewish, commonly citing King David as an example of a “convert” who was righteous and did many great things in the scriptures.

But wait! David was the son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz, the son of Salmon, the son of Nahshon, the son of Amminadab, the son of Ram, the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah!!! (I knew all of those genealogies would come in handy someday!)  Since these men were all Israelites from the tribe of Judah, why do they say that David was a “convert?”