The horrific massacre of 1,200 Israelis has engraved October 7th into the minds of Jewish people and others who watched the bloodshed from around the world. However, in the 1300s, the day which shuddered Jewish people to the bone would have been February 14thโwhich many now celebrate as “Valentine’s Day.”
While in America the most famous “Valentine’s Day massacre” revolves around the 1929 killing of seven in a Chicago gang-related shooting, February 14th, 1349, was the day of a far more deadly antisemitic campaign.
After being falsely accused of poisoning wells and infecting Europe with the “Black Plague,” an entire community of several thousand Jewish people in Strasbourg, France (at that time within the “Holy Roman Empire”) were arrested, barricaded into a Jewish cemetery, and burned alive.
Jews were then barred from the city, with these restrictions lifted almost 200 years later. Interestingly, it was only after the murderous event was perpetrated on the Jewish populationโwhich took place on the Sabbathโthat the “Black Plague” reached Strasbourg, resulting in the deaths of approximately 16,000 residents.
Valentine’s Day was reportedly instituted by the Pope in the 5th Century, weaving the traditions of the Catholic church into a banned pagan holiday in mid-February centered around fertility and ritual sexual activity. However, Valentine’s Day went largely dormant after the 5th Century and only began popping up in writing references in the 1370s, a few decades following the Strasbourg massacre.
Prior to the birth of the promised Messiah, Jesus Christ, Satan sought to commit genocide against the Jewish people to thwart his arrival. Those massacres, which are recorded in the pages of Scripture, include the Pharaoh’s murder of Jewish Babies (Exodus 1-2), Haman’s plot to slaughter all the Jews in the provinces of King Ahasuerus (Esther 1-10), and Herod’s execution of Jewish toddlers and babies (Matthew 2:16).
Knowing that God’s plan for the children of Israel didn’t end after Jesus’ death and resurrection, Satan’s plans for evil against them didn’t end either. As Christian author Hal Lindsey recently explained, the Jewish people for centuries have “suffered as the victims of ‘malicious gossip'” and targeted violence.
“People blamed Jews for wars and for economic downturns. The losers of wars made Jews their scapegoats โ blaming them for selling secrets and other traitorous activities. Anti-capitalists often blame Jews for the rise of capitalism. But just as often, capitalists blame Jews for the rise of socialism,” Lindsey described. “I could go on and on listing the things they’ve been blamed for, including the Bubonic Plague, earthquakes, floods, and all kinds of natural disasters. Hating Jews goes back further than the word Jew.”
“The propensity to blame Jews for all manner of evil led to the Holocaust, but it did not stop there. It is alive and well,” he underscored.
Satan lies at the heart of antisemitism. His hatred for God’s chosen people has driven numerous individual’s blood-lust against the Jewish people.
As with the Holocaust and many other similar antisemitic initiatives, satan has worked to erase and distort the memory of these events.
The reintroduction of the pagan Valentine’s Day holiday worked to wipe away February 14th’s connection to the deaths of thousands of Jewish people and turn the day into a gift-giving celebration. As a result, many are unfamiliar with the blood-soaked history of this day.
With the raw images of October 7th fresh in our minds, we must remember that satan will do everything in his power to warp, downplay, and even promote the celebration of this day. But while the devil may view this and other massacres as a victory, God will ultimately have the final word.
