Biblical fact vs. fiction: Debunking the claim that Jesus was a Palestinian

It’s that time of year again when we untie the ribbon, rip off the wrapping paper, and open the box to find the claim that Jesus was a Palestinian.

Could Jesus actually be a Palestinian?

He was born in Bethlehem, a Palestinian Authority city, and the Pope wrapped him in a keffiyeh—so it must be true, right?

We’ve heard so many statements, chants, and lies lately: “Death, death to the IDF,” “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” and, of course, the old, faithful, but completely false line that Jesus was a Palestinian. If you say it long and loud enough, a woke, pink-haired college kid will believe it.

It’s a foolish narrative that shows complete ignorance on the part of those who promote it.
“Palestine” isn’t even in the Bible or the Quran. The term comes from Emperor Hadrian, who renamed the Province of Judea to Syria Palestina around 135 CE (Google it). That’s about 100 years after Jesus Christ. So the term didn’t even exist in Jesus’ day. To call him a Palestinian is, to put it mildly, absurd.

Muslims today will call Jesus—and Moses—a Muslim, even though Islam emerged about 600 years after Jesus. But that’s a topic for another day.

It is quite ironic that Bethlehem, a Palestinian Authority city, actually declares to the world that Jesus was a Jew.

How?

The traditional site of Jesus’ birth has a fourteen-pointed star. You can go down into the Grotto and see it. But what does that fourteen-pointed star mean?

If we turn to the book of Matthew, we find the genealogy of Jesus.

Matthew 1:17 says: “Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Messiah.” (NIV)

Why was Matthew so focused on the number fourteen?

In Hebrew there is gematria, where every letter has a numerical value.

For instance, the Hebrew letter for D has the value 4. The letter V has the value 6.
So if you spell out D-V-D, King David’s name in Hebrew, the numbers add up to 14.

Matthew was showing through Scripture that Jesus was a descendant of the Jewish King David.

It was prophesied:

“When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.” - 2 Samuel 12–13

The Gospel writer Luke also makes it very clear that Jesus came from the line of David:

“So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David.” - Luke 2:4

A simple study of the genealogy in Matthew shows that Jesus is from the line of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It doesn’t take long to see the facts: Jesus was from the line of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, making him a Jew—not a Palestinian.

This is such a serious and important issue because if Jesus is not a Jew, then quite simply He is not the Messiah, and I have been wasting my time following Him.

Today, get into your Bible. Get to know your Bible, because there are people out there who want to sell you a lie. They have their agenda, and they are not telling you the truth. But when you know the truth, the truth will set you free.