Matthew Chapter 5 (Part Four)

Verse 7: The fifth Beatitude is found in verse 7: How blessed are those who show mercy for they will be shown mercy. The idea is that mercy is reciprocated between God and Man. This is not a new idea Jesus is teaching. There are a number of Bible passages which express this concept. When we show mercy or have pity or compassion upon our fellow man, it is God who will reward us.

He who despises his fellow, sins. But he who shows compassion to the humble is happy. (Proverbs 14:21)

In this passage, it says the one who shows compassion to his fellow man is “happy”. The Hebrew word translated as “happy” is the Hebrew word esher. Esher can also be translated into English as “blessed”. Being blessed and having blessings are gifts from God. So, another way to translate Proverbs 14:21 is: He who despise his fellow, sins. But he who shows compassion to the humble is blessed from God.

Another verse of Scripture which emphasizes how our kindness with be reciprocated with God is Proverbs 19:17

He that has pity upon the poor lends unto the LORD, and that which he has given will he [ay his again. (Proverbs 19:17)

We see God repays everything measure for measure. If we are kind to others, He is kind to us. If we are cruel or unfair to our neighbor, God will be cruel and unfair to us. This is one of the most fundamental principles of life among Jews.

Christianity sometimes makes small this God-principle or even says that it no longer applies to Believers today. However, this is not so. One of the most famous statements of how God operates His justice system is called “eye for an eye”. It is a statement of proportional justice. If I hit my brother, I deserve to be hit back. If I steal from my brother, I deserve to be stolen from. The same is true in the positive sense. If I am kind to my brother, I should be shown kindness back. If I lend to a neighbor, a neighbor should willing to lend to me.

For Believers, it translates into our faithfulness. If we are faithful to God, He is faithful to us.

King Saved speaks of this concept in Psalm 18.

The Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness;
According to the cleanness of my hands He has repaid me.
21
For I have kept the ways of the Lord,
And have not acted wickedly against my God.
22
For all His judgments were before me,
And I did not put away His statutes from me.
23
I was also blameless with Him,
And I kept myself from my wrongdoing.
24
Therefore the Lord has repaid me according to my righteousness,
According to the cleanness of my hands in His eyes.
25
With the faithful You show Yourself faithful;
With the blameless You prove Yourself blameless;
26
With the pure You show Yourself pure,
And with the crooked You show Yourself astute. (Psalm 18:20-26)

We see that King David remained faithful to God, and God rewarded him accordingly. King David writes if a person is faithful, God will be faithful. But if a person is crooked with God, God will also be shrewd with the man.

This concept is a re-iteration of the two great commandments: Love the LORD your God and love your neighbor as yourself. Many have argued this two commandments can really be achieved by simply loving our neighbor as our self. If we love our fellow, then we are also loving God. Remember, man is created in the image of God. If we cannot love man, we cannot love God.

In 1 John chapter 4, John speaks of this same concept:
20If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. 21And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also. (1 John 4:20-21)

Matthew Chapter 5 (Part Three)

A Brief Interlude
As we look at the Beatitudes, I want to suggest these are being given to be interpreted on multiple levels. There is the plain meaning and then there is a deeper meaning which has a broader application. Christianity has a very minted view of Scripture. The general teaching is that one way of interpreting the text is correct. All other views are then deemed incorrect. This is due to our Greek mindset in which there is only one solution to a problem. Everything is linear.

In an Eastern/Hebraic mindset, there are multiple answers to a question. They see Scripture as having layers. This is the plain meaning of the text. Then there is a deeper level, a level which is hinted at. Then there are two more levels which find deeper and more spiritual meanings to the text. In Judaism, there are many, many interpretations of Scripture. The interpretations are studied and considered as a person reads the Bible text. I feel most Christian often cannot appreciate the depth and richness of our Bible since they believe things only have one meaning.

It is important to note, everything in the Bible has at least two meanings. One is the immediate plain meaning. The words are meant for Jesus’ audience at that time in history. There is also a deeper meaning, one which is broader and is meant for generations past, present and future. Let’s try to look at the Beatitudes and analyze how thee texts applies specifically for Jesus’ audience and also how it may apply to us now.

In the first Beatitude, Jesus speaks of the poor in spirit. This is a reference to the people in the crowd who had the honor title among the sect of the Essenes. If we look a bit deeper, the poor in spirit among the Essenes (by their definition) received the Holy Spirit. In a later sense, all who truly receive the Holy Spirit can be considered as included among the poor in spirit. And thus they can be made happy and joyful (blessed) now and eternally.

In the second Beatitude, those who mourn will be comforted. For the plain meaning, the mourners are grieving over the destruction of the Holy Land, the Temple and the oppression of the Israelites by foreign enemies such as the Assyrians, Babylonians, Romans, etc. The comforting is that even in this they can have personal peace because there is hope that God will remove the pagan occupiers. At a deeper level, the mourners are those worshiper of God who are mourning over the detraction of the entire earth due to being disobedient to God, wickedness and unfaithfulness. The mourners are the righteous and all them can look forward to being comforted when the LORD comes in power and glory to destroy evil and rule with justice and mercy over all the earth.

In the third Beatitude, the meek will inherit the earth. On the surface, it is the Israelites in the audience who are powerless before the occupation of Rome. They are being told they will receive the inheritance God promised to them before their ancestors left Egypt. At a deeper level, the powerless follower of Jesus, will together receive the event larger inheritance promised by God to be co-rulers along with Jesus over all the earth’s inhabitants. This co-rulership is the fulfillment of the promise of the first Beatitude that the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.

Back to the Beatitudes
Verse 6: The fourth Beatitude is “How blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” The idea of hunger and thirsting after righteousness is not about food and drink. It is a spiritual longing. But this longing is not one of passivity: it speaks of an active search and work to find it. The question to be answered about this Beatitude it: whose righteousness is being sought? What kind of righteousness is being thirsted for? Is it a human righteousness? That is, is it something that is accomplished by means of our good work and deeds?

The answer is, the righteousness Jesus is referring to is God’s righteousness. He is borrowing from a Psalm of David. Psalm 107:2-9
2The redeemed of the LORD shall say so,
Those whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy
3And gathered from the lands,
From the east and from the west,
From the north and from the south.

4They wandered in the wilderness in a desert region;
They did not find a way to an inhabited city.
5They were hungry and thirsty;
Their souls felt weak within them.
6Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble;
He saved them from their distresses.
7He also had them walk on a straight way,
To go to an inhabited city.
8They shall give thanks to the LORD for His mercy,
And for His wonders to the sons of mankind!
9For He has satisfied the thirsty soul,
And He has filled the hungry soul with what is good.

Notice that it is God’s redeemed who are being addressed. From the surface, the redeemed represent all the Israelites (because 1400 years earlier all the tribes of Israel were redeemed from Egypt). The wandering in the desert recalls the wilderness journey of the Exodus. God rescued them and then they were finally prepared, He took them to a city where they could live. That city was Jerusalem. God also satisfied the hungry Israelites by giving them manna to eat, the entire time they were wandering. He provided them with water as needed, often in miraculous ways.

At a deeper meaning, the redeemed are all the people who have been redeemed from their sins by placing their trust In God and Jesus. Before we did that, we were wandering aimlessly in a desert of sin and purposelessness. We were hungry and thirsty for deliverance from out emptiness and from eternal death. But God has satisfied the thirst and satisfied the hunger of our souls, and had given us life eternal with Him.

The metaphor of hunger and thirst represents a deep down seeking of God. To understand what God’s righteousness is, let’s read Isaiah 32, which gives us a deeper understanding.

1Behold, a king will reign righteously,
And officials will rule justly.
2Each will be like a refuge from the wind
And a shelter from the storm,
Like streams of water in a dry country,
Like the shade of a huge rock in an exhausted land.
3Then the eyes of those who see will not be blinded,
And the ears of those who hear will listen.
4The mind of the rash will discern the truth,
And the tongue of the stammerers will hurry to speak clearly.

5No longer will the fool be called noble,
Or the rogue be spoken of as generous.
6For a fool speaks nonsense,
And his heart inclines toward wickedness:
To practice ungodliness and to speak error against the LORD,
To keep the hungry person unsatisfied
And to withhold drink from the thirsty.

7As for a rogue, his weapons are evil;
He devises wicked schemes
To destroy the poor with slander,
Even though the needy one speaks what is right.
8But the noble person devises noble plans;
And by noble plans he stands.

9Rise up, you women who are at ease,
And hear my voice;
Listen to my word,
You complacent daughters.

10Within a year and a few days
You will be troubled, you complacent daughters;
For the vintage is ended,
And the fruit gathering will not come.
11Tremble, you women who are at ease;
Be troubled, you complacent daughters;
Strip, undress, and put sackcloth on your waist,
12Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine,
13For the land of my people in which thorns and briars will come up;
Indeed, for all the joyful houses and for the jubilant city.

14For the palace has been neglected, the populated city abandoned.
Hill and watch-tower have become caves forever,
A delight for wild donkeys, a pasture for flocks,
15Until the Spirit is poured out upon us from on high,
And the wilderness becomes a fertile field,
And the fertile field is considered as a forest.

16Then justice will dwell in the wilderness,
And righteousness will remain in the fertile field.
17And the work of righteousness will be peace,
And the service of righteousness, quietness and confidence forever.
18Then my people will live in a peaceful settlement,
In secure dwellings, and in undisturbed resting places;
19And it will hail when the forest comes down,
And the city will be utterly laid low.
20How blessed will you be, you who sow beside all waters,
Who let the ox and the donkey out freely.

Matthew Chapter 5 (Part Two)

Verse 4: The next Beatitude is in verse four. It says, “Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted.” The premise is that those who mourn will experience some kind of religious joy (be blessed). One must ask what mourning has to do with it? And does it mean those who mourn the dead, such as a dear departed family member? And since Jesus is referring in a rather general way to certain of His large audience, is the dead what the mourners are grieving over?

It is very likely not. This is most likely a reference to the Prophet Isaiah chapter 61:1-4
1The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me,
Because the LORD anointed me
To bring good news to the humble;
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
To proclaim release to captives
And freedom to prisoners;
2To proclaim the favorable year of the LORD
And the day of vengeance of our God;
To comfort all who mourn,
3To grant those who mourn in Zion,
Giving them a garland instead of ashes,
The oil of gladness instead of mourning,
The cloak of praise instead of a disheartened spirit.
So they will be called oaks of righteousness,
The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.

4Then they will rebuild the ancient ruins,
They will raise up the former devastations;
And they will repair the ruined cities,
The desolations of many generations.

This is a Messianic prophecy in Isaiah. The general condition of mourning Jesus is speaking about probably does not have to anything with the death but rather is it mourning over the destruction of Israel—its cities and the Temple. This was the result of Israel ’s unfaithfulness. Although at this time in history, the Second Temple stood, it soon would be destroyed. The day both Temples were destroyed is on the 9th of Av also known as Tisha b’Av. It is tradition on this day that Jews sit on low chairs, fast and grieve over the destruction of the Holy Temple. The Book of Lamentations is often read in synagogues to commemorate this day.

In the Book of Zechariah, the fast of the month of Av (the fifth month) is referenced:
18Then the word of the LORD of armies came to me, saying, 19“The LORD of armies says this: ‘The fast of the fourth, the fast of the fifth, the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth months will become joy, jubilation, and cheerful festivals for the house of Judah; so love truth and peace.’ (Zechariah 8:18-19)
We see that the LORD promises to turn these days of mourning into times of rejoicing. For reference, the four fast days mentioned are as follows: the fourth month commemorates the fall of Jerusalem to Babylon. The fifth month recognizes the destruction of the first and second Temple. The seventh month honors the day Gedaliah was slaughtered. The tenth month recognizes the day Nebuchadnezzar sieges Jerusalem.


Additionally, the mourning Jesus is speaking most likely is as referencing Israel crying over the suffering and oppression the children of Israel endured via the hands of foreign conquerors. Remember back to Matthew chapter 2 in which Matthew quotes Jeremiah 31:15

15This is what the LORD says:
“A voice is heard in Ramah,
Lamenting and bitter weeping.
Rachel is weeping for her children;
She refuses to be comforted for her children,
Because they are no more.”

This verse is one quoted frequently by Jewish scholars and rabbis. The children of Israel had been scattered to the four corners of the earth. But, there is always hope. In Isaiah 61, we see how the Israelites will be granted favor and will enjoy being called oaks of righteousness that the LORD may be glorified (61:3). The mourners will be comforted and Israel will be delivered and restored. This may be what Jesus is talking about when He says the mourners will be comforted. This comforting will be a future event. This is in contrast to the first Beatitude in which the blessing is bestow upon the person immediately. In summary, the second Beatitude is addressing the mourners among the crowd because they are sorry frothier sin, and the sins of their ancestors, which has led them to being under the control of Romans and other oppressors.

Verse 5: The third Beatitude is “how blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth”. We need to first identify who the meek are. 

The backdrop of this Beatitude is Psalm 37:1-13

1Do not get upset because of evildoers,
Do not be envious of wrongdoers.
2For they will wither quickly like the grass,
And decay like the green plants.
3Trust in the LORD and do good;
Live in the land and cultivate faithfulness.
4Delight yourself in the LORD;
And He will give you the desires of your heart.
5Commit your way to the LORD,
Trust also in Him, and He will do it.
6He will bring out your righteousness as the light,
And your judgment as the noonday.

7Rest in the LORD and wait patiently for Him;
Do not get upset because of one who is successful in his way,
Because of the person who carries out wicked schemes.
8Cease from anger and abandon wrath;
Do not get upset; it leads only to evildoing.
9For evildoers will be eliminated,
But those who wait for the LORD, they will inherit the land.
10Yet a little while and the wicked person will be no more;
And you will look carefully for his place and he will not be there.
11But the humble will inherit the land
And will delight themselves in abundant prosperity.

12The wicked plots against the righteous,
And gnashes at him with his teeth.
13The Lord laughs at him,
For He sees that his day is coming.

This is a Messianic Psalm of David which speaks of a future time when the “meek” inherit the land (with the land being a reference to Israel). Meek is another word in the Bible whose definition is not necessarily agreed upon and seems to be used differently in different settings. Often it carries the obvious meaning of gentleness and mildness. But here in Psalm 37:11, the word is probably better understood as powerless because the righteous are being oppressed by the wicked.

Since Jesus is making reference to Psalm 37 in this Beatitude, then His use of the term “meek” means the same as powerless. Further in Psalm 37, the Hebrew word for what it is that the meek should inherit is eretz. Eretz can mean land or earth. However, we must not think of earth as meaning the formal name of our planet such as planet Earth. Rather, Biblically, earth is another way of saying the dry land—places which can be inhabited.

David’s audience for his Psalm was the Israelites. Jesus’ audience for His Sermon was the Israelites. Therefore, “the meek” in both cases are Israelites, and the inheritance of the Israelites is the land of Israel. Therefore, the phrase “the meek shall inherit the earth/land” is that the powerless Israelites shall, at some point, permanently inherit the land of Israel such that they will no longer be oppressed by a foreign power (aka, wickedness).

Matthew Chapter 5 (Part One)

Chapter five is the beginning of Matthew’s three chapter long on what Jesus said in His hilltop speech in Galilee was addressed to a wide spectrum of Jews. This long speech is often coined The Sermon on the Mount. This speech represents the most consequential and panoramic expression of what it means to be a Believer and follower of Jesus. These instructions come directly from Jesus’ mouth, and Matthew must have grasped the importance of these words since he devotes three chapters in his Gospel to this speech.

It is curious that Matthew is the only Gospel of the four which records the Sermon on the Mount. Luke chapter 6 contains something similar, but they are not the same. The sermon which begins at Luke 6:17 and goes to the end of the chapter is often called The Sermon on the Plain. It occurs at a different location than the Sermon on the Mount. Let’s look at Luke chapter 6.

The introductory words to the Sermon of the Mount in Matthew 5 are: “Seeing the crowds, Jesus walked up the hill.” But in Luke 6, we read: “Then he came down with them (meaning His disciples) and stood on a level place.” The KJV reads: “And he came down with them, and stood in the plain.”

What follows in Luke is something similar to the words of the Beatitudes, but they are different and fewer. There are a few sayings, a parable and a few other sayings which are similar to the Sermon on the Mount. It seems the purpose of the sermon in Luke 6, the description of the make-up of the people who were there, the geography of where the speech was given and the timing of it make it another speech which is different from the one given in Matthew.

Remember, Jesus had a ministry which lasted several years. It is not uncommon, even today, for a teacher to repeat a message to a different group of people. The speech is often tailored to the audience and may change depending on what the audience needs to hear. Many commentators neglect this. They believe at every encounter, Jesus said something new and fresh. In the age of internet and television, politicians (for instance) will use the same core message in a number of different settings, slightly modifying each message to suit a particular audience.

One important thing to note, Matthew carefully chooses what he includes in his Gospel to paint an overall picture. For Jesus, Matthew is trying to depict Jesus as a second Moses. Notice that the Sermon on the Mount just as Moses went up to the top of a mountain (Mount Sinai) to obtain God’s instructions and then came down to the side of the mountain to instruct the Israelites, so too in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus went up a mountain (a hill) to address Israel and instruct them in a deeper understanding of God’s Word.

Verse 1: Matthew says that Jesus went up a hill in order to make a speech to a large crowd of Israelites. This crowd consisted mostly of people from the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. People from these tribes are often referred to as Jews. There were also probably some individuals from some of the other tribes of Israel and some gentiles may also have been present.

To know who all were present at the Sermon on the Mount, we need to back up and re-read the ending of chapter 4. Remember, when Matthew was writing this, he wrote it as one continuous book. It was not broken up into chapters. Chapters are wonderful additions, which were added about 1,000 years ago; however, we can sometimes lose context when we simply start and end our reading with the chapter breaks.

Starting in Matthew 4:23-5:2:
23Jesus was going about in all of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness among the people.
24And the news about Him spread throughout Syria; and they brought to Him all who were ill, those suffering with various diseases and severe pain, demon-possessed, people with epilepsy, and people who were paralyzed; and He healed them. 25Large crowds followed Him from Galilee and the Decapolis, and Jerusalem, and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.

1Now when Jesus saw the crowds, He went up on the mountain; and after He sat down, His disciples came to Him. 2And He opened His mouth and began to teach them, saying, (Matthew 4:23-5:2)
 

We learn the primary reason this enormous group of people came from many likes was for healing of all kinds of maladies. They came because of Jesus’ growing reputation as a tzaddik, a holy man. Remember tzaddik were considered men of God who had power to heal and were also known for their miracles. They taught in addition to being able to heal. It was common for Jesus to draw large crowds for the purpose of miracle healing, but also He could speak profound truths. As of this time, the Jews did not suspect Jesus was the Messiah, and Jesus had not publicly proclaimed who he was.

Verse 3: Verse three begins what for centuries has been called the Beatitudes. We got this strange English word from the Latin version of the Bible, where the word beatus is used to translate the Greek word makarios.

The first beatitude is: “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” This beatitude has had a number of opinions about its meaning. Let’s try to decipher it by understanding what the word “blessed” means.

Assuming Jesus spoke in Hebrew, the language of the region, then likely what we have is a Greek translation of the Hebrew word “berakhah”.”Berakhah” (and its Greek counterpart makarios) mean to be favored, fortunate, or happy.

Second, we need to examine what it means to be poor in spirit. I have heard a number of sermons over my lifetime on what it means to be poor in spirit, and I am not sure any two agree on the meaning. If being poor in spirit is supposed to be a positive and desirable trait, then what about being poor in spirit makes a person happy or fortunate?

To explain this, let’s look to Dr. Flusser, who is a legend among scholars. He believes that the first three beatitudes are more of a description of the people who constitute the crowd which followed Jesus up the hill in the Galilee. Here is his conclusion about the meaning and intent of the term “poor in spirit”:

“Now for the first time, because of the Dead Sea scrolls, we can understand the phrase ‘poor in spirit’. It was a title of honor among the Essenes. These are the poor to whom the Holy Spirit is given.”

In another, but separate quote, Dr Flusser further explains that among the Essenes this term referred to a person who was living in a spirit of “poverty, humility, purity and simplicity”. Just as today a good orator will acknowledge those who make up his audience, so it was in Jesus’ day.

Assuming that what Dr. Flusser says concerning the clarification about this strange phrase that the Dead Sea scrolls provides for us is correct, we can gather rather confidently that it was the Essenes (and perhaps those who lived on the fringes of the Essenes purity movement) that Jesus was acknowledging. Since we are told that many of His audience came from Judah, in the south, where the Essenes had their desert enclave next to the Dead Sea, and from Syria in the north, where it is known that a substantial Essenes community lived in the city of Damascus, then it makes sense that many members of the Essenes community might have attended Jesus’ sermon.

But what is the intent of including the statement that for certain members of the Essenes, the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs? Remember, the Kingdom of God is not a place, but it is a spiritual condition. When one repents of sinning and trust in Jesus, then they receive the Holy Spirit. As a result, the Kingdom of Heaven now lives within them. Notice the grammar. It is not some time in the future that the Kingdom of Heaven will be theirs, but rather it is that when they receive the Holy Spirit the Kingdom became theirs.

Schools in First Century Galilee

Schools in First Century Galilee
Schools were associated with the local synagogue in first century Galilee. Apparently each community would hire a teacher (respectfully called "rabbi") for the school. While this teacher was responsible for the education of the village he had no special authority in the synagogue itself. Children began their study at age 4-5 in Beth Sefer (elementary school). Most scholars believe both boys and girls attended the class in the synagogue. The teaching focused primarily on the Torah, emphasizing both reading and writing Scripture. Large portions were memorized and it is likely that many students knew the entire Torah by memory by the time this level of education was finished. At this point most students (and certainly the girls) stayed at home to help with the family and in the case of boys to learn the family trade. It is at this point that a boy would participate in his first Passover in Jerusalem (a ceremony that probably forms the background of today's bar mitzvah in orthodox Jewish families today.) Jesus' excellent questions for the teachers in the temple at his first Passover indicate the study he had done.

 

 

1st Century Synagogue

The best students continued their study (while learning a trade) in Beth Midrash (secondary school) also taught by a rabbi of the community. Here they (along with the adults in the town) studied the prophets and the writings (3) in addition to Torah and began to learn the interpretations of the Oral Torah (4) to learn how to make their own applications and interpretations much like a catechism class might in some Churches today. Memorization continued to be important because most people did not have their own copy of the Scripture so they either had to know it by heart or go to the synagogue to consult the village scroll. Memory was enhanced by reciting aloud, a practice still widely used in Middle Eastern education both Jewish and Muslim. Constant repetition was considered to be an essential element of learning.
 

A few (very few) of the most outstanding Beth Midrash students sought permission to study with a famous rabbi often leaving home to travel with him for a lengthy period of time. These students were called talmidim (talmid, s.) in Hebrew, which is translated disciple. There is much more to a talmid than what we call student. A student wants to know what the teacher knows for the grade, to complete the class or the degree or even out of respect for the teacher. A talmid wants to be like the teacher, that is to become what the teacher is. That meant that students were passionately devoted to their rabbi and noted everything he did or said. This meant the rabbi-talmid relationship was a very intense and personal system of education. As the rabbi lived and taught his understanding of the Scripture his students (talmidim) listened and watched and imitated so as to become like him. Eventually they would become teachers passing on a lifestyle to their talmidim.

As a result, Galilee was a place of intense study of Scripture. People were knowledgeable about its content and the various applications made by their tradition. They were determined to live by it and to pass their faith and knowledge and lifestyle on to their children. It was into this world that Jesus came as a child and eventually a rabbi.


Setting the Stage
Jesus was born, grew up and spent his ministry among people who knew Scripture by memory, who debated its application with enthusiasm, and who loved God with all their hearts, all theirs souls and with all their might (Deuteronomy 6:5). God carefully prepared this environment so that Jesus would have the stage set for Him to deliver his message “The Kingdom of Heaven”. People would understand His teachings and would become followers.

Knowing all these details helps us understand the great faith and courage His followers had who left Galilee and went out into the world. Their courage, the methods they used and their complete devotion to God and his Word were born in the religious communities in Galilee.


11 of Jesus’ Disciples are from Galilee
If you examine Scripture, you will find 11 out of the 12 disciplines are from Galilee. The only disciple not from Galilee is Judas Ischariot. He is from Judea.
Andrew (the brother of Peter) was from Bethsaida and Capernaum (Galilee)
Bartholomew (aka Nathaniel) lived in Canan in Galilee.
James the son of Zebedee lived in Bethsaida and Capernaum (Galilee).
Jame the son of Alpheus lived in Galilee
John the son of Zebedee lived in Bethsaida and Capernaum (Galilee).
Jude (aka Thaddeus) lived in Galilee.
Matthew lived in Capernaum (Galilee).
Simeon Peter lived in Bethsaida and Capernaum (Galilee).
Phillip lived in Bethsaida (Galilee).
Simeon the Zealot lived in Galilee.
Thomas the Twin lived in Galilee.

Why is it important they are from Galilee? They would have been well versed in Scripture since they were small children. They would have easily known what Jesus was talking about and would have had all the Scriptures memorized. It would have been easy fro Jesus to say one verse of Scripture and for the disciples to have known the context around the piece of Scripture.

Education in Israel during the Time of Jesus

Education in Israel during the Time of Jesus

During the first century, a very complex and rigorous education system had been set up in Israel and especially in Galilee. The people of Galilee were the most religious Jews in the world during the time of Jesus. This may seem in direct contrast to the common view held by many Christians in which the Galileans are viewed as being simple, uneducated peasants from an isolated region of the world. This perspective is probably due to the comments which appear to belittle the people from this region. In the Book of Acts, during Shavuot (aka, the Feast of Weeks), the people seem amazed that the Galileans were capable of speaking in other languages. This is a bias held by those of Judea and other countries against the people of Galilee due to the strong and passionate religious commitments of the Galileans.

Galilee had a lot of interaction with the world because it was on a major trade route. Jerusalem was rather isolated because it lays in a mountainous region.

The Galilean people were more educated in the Bible and its application than most Jews. More famous Jewish teachers came from Galilee than from anywhere else in the world. They were known for their great reverence for Scripture and the passionate desire to be faithful to it. This translated into vibrant religious communities. They were devoted to their families and their country. Their synagogues were places were discussions and debate about the Torah were held. They resisted the pagan influences of Hellenism far more than their Judean counterparts. When the revolt against the Romans occurred from 66-74 Ad, it began among the Galileans.

Galilee in Scripture
Galilee is mentioned in Scripture and is downplayed as a place where no one of high religious intellect would arise from. Because Jesus grew up in Galilee, he is cast aside by Judean religious leadership.

37 Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. 38 The one who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’” 39 But this He said in reference to the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

40 Some of the people therefore, after they heard these words, were saying, “This truly is the Prophet.” 41 Others were saying, “This is the Christ.” But others were saying, “Surely the Christ is not coming from Galilee, is He? 42 Has the Scripture not said that the Christ comes from the descendants of David, and from Bethlehem, the village where David was?” 43 So a dissension occurred in the crowd because of Him. 44 And some of them wanted to arrest Him, but no one laid hands on Him.
45 The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, and they said to them, “Why did you not bring Him?” 46 The officers answered, “Never has a man spoken in this way!” 47 The Pharisees then replied to them, “You have not been led astray too, have you? 48 Not one of the rulers or Pharisees has believed in Him, has he? 49 But this crowd that does not know the Law is accursed!” 50 Nicodemus (the one who came to Him before, being one of them) *said to them, 51 “Our Law does not judge the person unless it first hears from him and knows what he is doing, does it?” 52 They answered and said to him, “You are not from Galilee as well, are you? Examine the Scriptures, and see that no prophet arises out of Galilee.” (John 7:37-52)

We do not know if the comment made in John 7:52 stating no prophet arises out of Galilee is specific to the Messiah or if it meant in general no prophet has ever arisen out of Galilee. If the comment is made regarding Jesus, it is true, there is no Scripture stating Messiah will come from Galilee. He is prophesied to come from Bethlehem. If the remark is meant as a general comment, then the Pharisees are in error. Both Nahum and Jonah came from Galilee.

The Education System Expectations in Galilee
At five years old, children starting learning Scripture. At ten years old, children started learning the oral Torah and interpretations. At 13 years old, they were expected to fulfill the Torah. (This means the child should have the proper understanding of the Torah commandments and be able to do complete them.) At 15, the student was expected to understand the Talmud which is the Rabbinic interpretations of the Torah. At 18, the person was expected to marry. At 20 years old, the person was expected to pursue a vocation. At 30 years old, if the student became advanced in his learning, he could achieve authority stars which meant he could teach others. Please note, for a student to achieve authority status, he must have been an exceptional student. Very few students ever achieved authority status and took on students.
It is interesting to compare Jesus' life to this description. Though little is stated about his childhood we know that he "grew in wisdom" as a boy (Luke 2:52) and that he reached the "fulfilling of the commandments" indicated by ones first Passover at age twelve (Luke 2:41). He then learned a trade (Matt. 13:55, Mark 6:3) and spent time with John the Baptist (Luke 3:21; John 3:22-26) and began his ministry at -about thirty- (Luke 3:23). This parallels the Mishnah description quite closely. It certainly demands a closer look at the education process in Galilee.

What Does it Mean to Be a Disciple?

 The Apostle Paul
We gain a little bit of insight into what is was like to be a disciple (talmidim) from the Apostle Paul. He was from Tarsus, a city which is today in present day south central Turkey. Paul studied under the teacher Gamaliel. Gamaliel was the grandson of the famous Hillel the Elder. Gamaliel taught in Jerusalem. In order for Paul to be a student of Gamaliel, he had to leave his family behind and live in Jerusalem. The distance between Jerusalem and Tarsus is approximately 440 miles. Driving in today’s vehicles, it would take about 8 hours. If you did this route walking, going 20 miles a day, it would take 22 days.

Needless to say, Paul was familiar with what it meant to be a disciple. He would have left his land, his birthplace and his father’s house to come to Jerusalem to learn at the feet of Gamaliel.

The disciple selection process
To be a disciple of a teacher, a student would have to apply for the position. The student would have to show a willingness to learn, dedication and intelligence. Many times there were tests and challenges to overcome to determine if a student would be selected by a teacher for discipleship. Even if a student was not allowed to be a disciple, often, the person would be near the teacher to glean teachings and perhaps prove his worth to become a disciple.

Some teachers had a large cohort of disciples; some had a small number. The usual number of disciples for a teacher to have is 12. So, Jesus walking around with 12 disciples, plus there were often other people around who wanted to be a disciple, but were never picked, was common.

We see Jesus has the 12 inner circle disciples, but there are also a large number of other people who are considered part of Jesus’ teaching ministries.

1Now after this the Lord appointed seventy others, and sent them in pairs ahead of Him to every city and place where He Himself was going to come. (Luke 10:1)


Jesus Selects His disciples
Usually, a person came to a teacher and asked to be discipled by the teacher. The teacher would make the decision if the person will be accepted as a student.

With Jesus, we see the exact opposite. Jesus hand picks His disciples and tells them to “Follow Me”.

The calling of Simon and Andrew
16As He was going along by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net in the sea; for they were fishermen. 17And Jesus said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” 18Immediately they left their nets and followed Him. 19Going on a little farther, He saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who were also in the boat mending the nets. 20Immediately He called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and went away to follow Him. (Mark 1:16-20)

The calling of Levi (Matthew)
14As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting in the tax booth, and He *said to him, “Follow Me!” And he got up and followed Him. (Mark 2:14)


It may seem strange to us to have a complete stranger approach you, say follow me, and the person obeys. Being selected by a rabbi to be a disciple was a big deal. Even today, it is very hard for a teacher to accept a person to be his student. There still exists today in the Jewish community rabbis and talmidim. This is a very special and intimate relationship. It is highly sought after. The expectations are high, and a student can be dropped for any reason.


Talmud-Rabbi relationship
The talmid studies not only to learn what their teachers knows but studies to become the type of man the teacher is. The Hebrew root from which the word talmid comes from is the word limmud which means instructed.

To be a disciple does not mean one shows up for class, takes a few tests and then gets a certificate saying he passed the course. No, to be a disciple means you are EXACTLY like your teacher. It means if the teacher uses a knife and fork to eat a piece of pizza, the disciple also uses a knife and fork to eat a pizza of pizza. In everything the teacher does, so does the student. The student-teacher relationship is very intimate.

Most rabbis and their students live together, eat together and sleep together. To learn everything about your teacher, the student needs access to everything the teacher does. Unlike our school systems in which being a teacher is a 9 to 5 job, being a rabbi with talmidim means the rabbi is working 24/7. Every moment is a teaching moment. Every moment the teacher is being observed. And so it was with Jesus and His disciples. Wherever Jesus went, His disciples went.

There are a few times Jesus leaves His disciples for time alone.

45Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side to Bethsaida, while He Himself was sending the crowd away. 46After bidding them farewell, He left for the mountain to pray. (Mark 6:45-46)

Matthew Chapter 4 (Part Four)

Verse 18: Verse 18 speaks of when Jesus began His ministry in earnest. He did so by choosing some disciples. We are told that he walked along the Sea of Tiberias (or Sea of Galilee depending on your translation). It was called Tiberias because Tiberias was the name of the large city which was located near the lake’s southwestern shore. Some translations also call it the Sea of Kinneret. This is based on the Hebrew word kinnar, which means harp. The lake was harp shaped.

Jesus spotted a couple fishermen who were brothers. He offered to make them fishers of men. One was called Andrew and the other Simon Peter. In Hebrew, Simon Peter is Shimon Kefa. This is translated in other parts of the Bible as Cephas. We are told these two brother did not hesitate. They left their nets and followed Jesus.

An interesting feature about disciples and their masters in the first century was that it was frequently the disciples who chose their teachers. There were many teachers to choose from if a Jewish man wanted to become a disciple. Some of the most elite teachers were highly sought after and the teacher choose his students. We are told the Apostle Paul studied under a scholar named Gameliel. Gameliel had many students and had the ability to choose who he wanted to teach.

Jesus selected his disciples. There were the inner 12 Jesus choose; however, we read there were many others who followed Him. These other men would have been tougher from a distance. They would not have had the intimate relationship with Jesus which the inner 12 had. Moreover, the inner 12 disciples did everything with Jesus. There are many stories in which just the 12 disciples were present. Often times, it was further reduced to just 2 or 3 disciples.

Before we talk about some other men who Jesus rerouted, notice that the candidates are not recorded as asking “why” they should follow Him. The wording makes it seem as if there was an immediate acceptance. They just stood up and left with Him. In fact, it seems that Jesus’ offer was not an invitation but a command. The question which should be asked is: why would these men obey and follow Him?

In Judaism, there is a kind of Jewish man who is called a tzaddik. Literally, it means a “righteous man”. It is someone who was holy and who was able to rise above sin. When we read the Book of Job, Job is considered a tzaddik. He is tempted many times to sin against God, but he does not. His ability to resist sin and to stay faithful to God despite incredible challenges leads many Jewish scholars to call Job a tzaddik.

Some of the tzaddik had the ability to heal sicknesses, cure disabilities and fix other bodily maladies.

In Jewish literature from around 70 A.D., there were several tzaddik noted in literature. Two of these men were from the Galilee. These men were divinely gifted and were thought to be closer to God than the average person.

Recall in Jesus’ day, the bleed of the Jews was that the era of the prophets such as those seen in the Old Testament, was over. Prophets were the miracle workers of bygone days. However, these holy men called tzaddikim were able to perform miracles and seemed to have a more intimate relationship with God.

Scribes, who were the main authorities of the Synagogue system (they were the elites of the Pharisees), were highly referred. There was a tension and competition between the scribes and the tzaddikim. The people sought out a tzaddik for healing, something a scribe could not do. This created a natural conflict between the scribes and tzaddikim.

Many of the tzaddikim practiced poverty. This was in sharp contrast to the Sadducees and scribes who tried to obtain as much wealth as possible. The common Jew, who was generally not affluent, felt more of a connection to the holy men, who often had few possessions. It was also common for the tzaddikim to perform their miracles in private in order not to glorify themselves.

All the characteristics of a tzaddik ring true to the description we have about Jesus. He was not a man of wealth. He did lots of miracles, many of which were done privately, or in front of a small crowd. We read of Jesus healing the sick, excising demons and spending time with the general public. It is His miracles which often attracted people to Him. He gained a huge following and also drew the attention of many religious authorities.

Now back to the question which was asked earlier: why would these fishermen and other disciples who did not have any prior contact with Jesus just jump up and follow Jesus when they were commanded to do so? It was most likely because they recognized Jesus to be a highly learned teacher and a righteous man, a holy man. The men probably had heard of Jesus because we are told in Luke’s gospel that after Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, He returned to the Galilee and began teaching in synagogues. His reputation spread before He started appointing disciples. It would be an honor to be Jesus’ disciple. It would allow these men to increase their knowledge of Scripture and gain a higher status among religious Jews.

After choosing Andrew and Peter, Jesus found another pair of fishermen brothers and choose them. So the first four disciples were fishermen. Many scholars have gone on to spiritualize the meaning of having the first four disciples as being fishermen. However, I want to remind you, Jesus was living in Capernaum. This was a seaside town. Fishing was one of the main, if not the main, industries for the residents of Capernaum. We also read that Jesus was walking along the seashore. So he was bound to run into some fishermen.

Fishermen, despite what you have heard, were not uneducated and illiterate. Fishing was not an occupation of last resort. Rather, fishing was what we might call today a blue collar job. These were vernally happy family men making a simple but sufficient living. They could read and write. They probably spoke at least two languages—Hebrew and Aramaic. Some may also have had knowledge of Greek. Capernaum was an important city on the Via Maris trade route. So these men would have had interactions with people from all around the Greek empire and potentially the world.

Fishermen shared their catch with their family and also sold the rest at market. They attended synagogue, made the journey three times a year for the biblical feasts and had a good knowledge of Scripture.

The second pair of breathing that Jesus commanded to become His disciples were James and John, son of Zebedee. Just as Andrew and Peter immediately left their nets and boats, so did James and John. It is hard to know if these men gave up everything and walked away, or if there was more to the story. Did these men have families? Did they have a way to provide for their families while they went to spend their days with Jesus? I do not have the answers to these questions, but it is something to think about.

Over the next several years, these men would operate almost exclusively within the Holy Land, they would not have been listened to or respected if they had made their wives and children homeless beggars in order to follow Jesus. So the statement that these men left their nets and boats is most likely an abbreviated statement about their instant connection with Jesus and their immediate obedience to obey His command to follow Him. Nonetheless, this would have had serious consequences and would have put a great strain on their families.

Verse 23: In verse 23, it states that Jesus went around speaking in synagogues. This is where people worshiped, learned, fellow-shipped and gathered information. Jesus also went about healing people form disease.

Verse 25: In verse 25, we are told that people were coming from places like the Galilee, the Ten Towns (also known as the Decapolis), Jerusalem, the province of Judean to the south and even areas to the east of the Jordan River. It is interesting to note that Galilee and Judea are mentioned, but Samaria (which lays between them) is not in the list. Also, the prominent sites of Sidon and Tyre are not mentioned. Why is this omission made? These areas were mostly gentiles and people who were mixed blood. The gentiles would not have understood the meaning behind Jesus’ teachings and His miracles. The multitudes who came to be helped and to hear Jesus were almost exclusively Jews.

Matthew Chapter 4 (Part Three)

Verse 11: Next we are told that angels ministered to Jesus. This text is rather mysterious. How did the angels minister to Him? Did they bring Him comfort? Did they bring Him food? Did they congratulate Him? Why did angels need to minister to Him? Why couldn’t humans do so?

I do not have any answers to these questions, but one thing is clear. Although Jesus is God, He still has a human aspect to Him. He needed to be ministered to. God has no needs. Yet, we are told here, Jesus has needs. This emphasizes to us Jesus’ humanity. The temptations He just experienced affected Him the same way it would affect us.

We are not told how long it was between each of the three temptations. Did they occur one after another? Or was there time between each trial. After a person has not eaten for forty days, a few meals is not going to bring a person back to good health. Perhaps this is why the angels were needed. They had to get Jesus back His physical strength. I cannot imagine the stress Jesus must have been under and the physical exhaustion which accompanied it. He knew the weight of the world, and the eternal fate of humanity rest upon His shoulders. The devil tried to take advantage of this fact.

Verse 12: Verse 12 changes topics. We learn that John the Baptist has been arrested but we are not given any details about it. Later in chapter 14, Matthew will address this in more clarity as a kind of flashback. Nonetheless, John’s arrest occurred while Jesus was in Judea. This became a signal that He needed to leave and go back home to the Galilee.

Verse 13: Verse 13 states that Jesus went back to His hometown of Nazareth, but then He moved to Capernaum. Matthew says that the reason for making this one was in order to fulfill a prophecy of Isaiah. In other words, some of the things Jesus did, He did purposely to fulfill Messianic prophecies concerning His coming.

Capernaum is an English translation of the Hebrew K’far Nahum, which means the village of Nahum. The village was located on the Sea of Galilee. A good part of its economy depended on fishing. The village was near the border of the tribal territories of Zebulun and Naphtali.

Verse 14: Next Matthew quotes a section of prophecy which Jesus says He is fulfilling by moving to Capernaum. The prophecy comes from Isaiah 8 and 9. Let’s read Isaiah 8:1-9:6.

The mention of Ashur at the beginning is speaking of the Assyrian kingdom which Isaiah says will conquer the ten northern tribes of Israel and carry them off. History shows us that there were scattered all over Asia and North Africa. This exile from their land is judgment upon Israel by God for their idolatry and unfaithfulness. And at the same time, while the Lord has prepared and drawn in gentile nations to be the earthly sword of God’s judgment, He is going to shatter the gentile nations for being so hard on Israel.

The people of Israel are oblivious to their own rebellion and idolatry. Even though God has sent prophets including Isaiah to warn them, they are clueless about the coming consequences. The 12 tribes are doing what is right in each man’s own eyes. The ten northern tribes have been bowing down to other gods along with insincerely worshiping God. The two tribes which form the southern kingdom are being drawn slowly into the same destructive behavior.

Finally the breaking point is reached. What Isaiah describes next is the Israelites reaching out frantically in all directions for solutions to their growing frustrations, misfortunes and overwhelming problems. They try pressuring their prophets into contacting the dead for answers. They sacrifice to other gods hoping for favor. They quit consulting God’s word for direction and look to others or to themselves. There is only one word to describe the condition of Israel at this time: confusion.

Starting in Isaiah 8:11, the prophet says that God told him that even though these are Isaiah’s own people, he is not to join them in this nonsense. Don’t listen to the conspiracy theories and do not buy in. Don’t dread what the people dread. Don’t fear what the leaders fear. In other words, do not listen to all the noise of a disjointed society and become as anxious as they are.

In Isaiah 8:23 time passes. God’s people wait for their deliverance. They wait. More time passes. They hoped that what Isaiah told them was going to happen might play out in months or maybe in a few years. Instead, 700 years go by before their hope returns.

All these areas around the Galilee which Isaiah describe are home to the people he says have been walking “in great darkness” but now these same people have seen a “great light”. In Hebrew the word “darkness” used in Isaiah’s prophecy is choshek. This is not a work which means darkness such as nighttime or a darkened room. Rather choshek is used to describe obscurity, oppression and deception. So the great darkness is a great spiritual darkness or evil which is shared by Israelites and gentiles alike.

The great light which Isaiah prophesies about is in the original Hebrew owr. It is a type of light that is not the kind which comes from the sun or from a light bulb. Instead, owr means enlightenment, truth or revelation. Matthew takes the term “great light” in Isaiah’s prophecy to mean the Messiah.

Verse 17: In verse 17, we have Jesus using the same words which John the Baptist used as he called people to his baptism: turn from your sins to God, and the kingdom of Heaven is near. He used the same words as John because that is exactly what His purpose was for His coming.

Matthew Chapter 4 (Part Two)

 Verse 5: Next in verse five, the Adversary takes Jesus to Jerusalem and the Temple. Note: it was God who took Jesus to the desert for testing, just as it was God who took the Israelite to the desert for testing. This time, it is the Devil who takes Jesus to the holy city, Jerusalem for testing. He takes Him to the pinnacle of the Temple. Once again, he tries to sow seeds of doubt.

He says, “IF you are the Son of God then jump.” Will Jesus have the faith to do this? Will He jump and trust that His Father will catch Him? Wouldn’t the Father spare Jesus’ life IF He was actually the Son of God?

Satan goes so far as to quote Scripture to Jesus in order to convince Him to take the leap: “For he will order his angels to care for you and guard you whoever you go. They will carry you in their hands, so that you won’t trip on a stone.” (Psalm 91:11-12)

This is legitimate Scripture Satan is using. Even the context for it (which is about God caring for His own) seems correct. Jesus’ response is more than appropriate. It is a cation to us. Many of us are very good at remembering Scripture passages/ Ad sometimes when we encounter a difficult or stressful situation or a tough decision, we can find ourselves hearing one those Bible passages telling us to do something frightening. But then we have to remember a principle which Jesus teaches us right here:

“Do not put the LORD your God to the test, as you tested Him at Massah.” (Deuteronomy 6:16)

At Massah, the Israelites complained that there was no water for them to drink. Despite God providing for them over and over again, the Israelites had short memories. When things got tough, they whined and complained. Jesus rebukes this test of Satan by recalling the Massah incident during Israel’s exodus from Egypt. This is once again providing a connection between Jesus and Moses.

Verse 8: In verse eight, again the Devil leads Jesus to a high place. This time, it is even higher than the pinnacle on the Temple. It is to a mountain top in order to gain a wide vantage point so that Satan can dramatically make his offer. Notice how we go from a low place, the desert to a high place, the pinnacle of the Temple tot he highest place, a mountain top. This coincides with the ascending temptations.

The Devil offers Jesus the world which he lays out before Him. He makes it clear that he has the ability to give Jesus all the world’s kingdoms for Him to rule over. But what is the price? It is to bow down and worship Satan.

The point is not hard to see. It is Satan’s attempt to replace God. The world belongs to God because He is the Creator of it. It is His and His alone to rule over, or to assign the rule to another.

The Devil’s offer of Jesus worshiping him in exchange for world rule uses the same word in Greek that the Magi used when worshiping Jesus: proskuneo. It is better translated as homage. That is, just as the Magi paid homage to Jesus (who the Magi saw as king), so is the Devil telling Jesus to pay homage to the Devil, with he Devil seeing himself as the ruler (king) of the world. Satan is proposing a role reversal since we know form other Bible passages that God has designated Jesus to be the ruler of the world, with Satan bowing down to Him.

Verse 10: Jesus rebukes the Evil One with Scripture:
“You are to fear the LORD your God, serve Him and swear by His name.” (Deuteronomy 6:13)

Verse 11: The next words are “Then the Adversary left Him alone.” At that moment, the Devil’s hopes were crushed. The testing was over. There was nothing left to test. He had failed to shake the faith of our Messiah.

One of the early church fathers Chrysotom noticed the that the three temptations start with food. The first Adam was tempted by food in the Garden of Eden. Food is a powerful need in humans. It is therefore a powerful force in swaying humans.

Adam and Eve were given one rule: do not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And unfortunately, they broke that rule. The breaking of the rule is known in various church doctrines as the Fall of Man, the Fall from Grace and a few other titles. So the first law ever given to mankind involved food. And breaking the law which involved food completely redirected the destiny of all humanity Centuries later, at Mount Sinai, God would give Israel a more extensive set of laws regarding diet—laws which have come to be popularly known as Kosher food laws.

Nearly all of the earliest church fathers noticed this connection between Adam and Jesus, and many of them recognized the matter of food as the object of temptation they both faces. In Adam’s case, he had an abundance of food in the garden of Eden. And still, when the devil tempted him with the one food which was off limits, Adam succumbed to it. In Jesus’ case, the temptation in the wilderness came when Jesus had no food. He was starving. The devil told Him to turn stones into food to satisfy His hunger pains (which apparently Jesus could do as He did not dispute this with the devil). Jesus resisted the temptation.

The second temptation of Jesus involved the devil taking Him up to the highest point of the Temple in Jerusalem. Jesus was told to jump off of it. The devil taunted that “IF” He was truly God’s son, He Father would send angels to catch Him. The devil was trying to sow seeds of doubt into Jesus by employing the word “IF”. Jesus overcome this temptation also. He quotes Deuteronomy 6:16 that men should not put God on trial by doing such a foolish thing as jumping off a high place and expecting God to catch him.

The third temptation Jesus faces is when the devil offers Jesus rulership over the entire planet in exchange for bowing down to him. Jesus’ response to him was “away with you Satan”. When the devil cannot tempt Jesus, he leaves Him alone.

Matthew Chapter 4 (Part One)

The theme for chapter four is the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. The first thing Matthew deals with is a string of three temptations Jesus faced, which were orchestrated by Satan.Notice that all three temptations Satan offer Jesus, Jesus rebukes them by quoting Scripture. The Scripture He uses is from the Torah, specifically Deuteronomy 6 and 8. One of the reasons these particular passages is appropriate is that Jesus is being depicted as a second Moses. Jesus is echoing Israel’s experience in the wilderness. As the commentators Davies and Allison state:

“Having pass through the waters of a new exodus at his baptism, he enters the desert to suffer a time of testing, his 40 days of fasting being analogous to Israel’s forty years of wandering. Like Israel, Jesus is being tested by hunger. And like Israel, Jesus is tempted to idolatry.”

In Deuteronomy 8, we read that this was spoken to Israel as they navigated the trials of the wilderness and were about to emerge into the Promised Land.

“You are to remember everything of the way in which the LORD led you these forty years in the desert, humbling and testing you in order to know what was in your heart—whether you would obey his commandments or not. He humbled you, allowing you to become hungry, and then fed you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had ever known, to make you understand that a person does not live on food alone but on everything that comes from the mouth of the LORD.” (Deuteronomy 8:2-3)

God led the fleeing Israelites through the desert. He did so intentionally in a way to achieve a specific purpose: to teach them through testing and humbling, that what was hidden in the deepest recesses of their hearts would pour out in response to their circumstances. One of those humbling experiences they faced was that they became hungry, and God’s purpose for them enduring this was to teach them that God’s people do not live on food alone, but rather on what pours forth from His mouth. that is, His Word. Jesus, a sort of second Moses would now face similar trials.

Verse 2: Out in the desert, Jesus went without food for 40 days and 40 nights. He became hungry. For the Jews, the desert was not just a dangerous place, it was also a scary place.

He who led you through the great and terrible wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions, and its thirsty ground where there was no water; He who brought water for you out of the rock of flint. (Deuteronomy 8:10)

Jesus was beyond famished after 40 days and nights of not eating. His body was deteriorating. It is interesting that Matthew says the fasting lasted 40 days and nights and not just 40 days. The Bible is usually careful on words. Paper was precious. Stories were short and did not use extra words. However, here we have the inclusion of the word “nights”. We may ask ourselves why this is.

It we look to other parts of the Bible, we find another passage in which it is stated someone else went without eating and drinking for 40 days and 40 nights.

Moses says, “I had gone up to the mountain to receive the stone tablets, the tablets on which was written the covenant the LORD had made with you. I stayed on the mountain 40 days and 40 nights without eating food or drinking water.” (Deuteronomy 9:9)

Here we see again the connection between Moses and Jesus, and the idea that Jesus is reliving the experience of Israel and the exodus. But even more, there is another important connection which is being made:

The LORD prepared a high fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights. Form the belly of the fish, Jonah prayed to the LORD his God. (Jonah 2:1)

Everyone in ancient times understood that a day meant one entire day and night in sequence. The addition of the phrase “and nights” is not a usual Hebrew expression, but it was rare. When something is rare in the Bible, we need to pay attention. Later in Jesus’ ministry, He will make use of this phrase and its prophetic connections.

At this some of the scribe said, “Rabbi, we want to see a miraculous sign from you.” He replied, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign. None will be given but the sign of the prophet Jonah. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the depths of the earth." (Matthew 12:38-40)

Verse 3: Although I have never experienced hunger to the level which Jesus was experiencing, I am told it is very painful. The Devil, however, has an easy solution for Jesus. He tells Jesus that IF He is really the Son of God, then turn the stones into bread. The Devil is trying to sow self-doubt into Jesus.

IF: what a big word. It is meant to describe uncertainty. Have we not all heard deep within our minds: “IF you really love Jesus, He would enable you to live a perfect life?” “IF you really love Jesus, you would be able to do everything God wants you to do.” I suspect that most of us will struggle to understand and balance our new Godly nature with our old corrupted human nature. It is to be expected. It is also fertile ground for the Adversary to strike at us at any moment. What do we do? We follow out Savior’s example:

Verse 4: Jesus responded to this attack by quoting the Bible. He says from Deuteronomy 8:3 “A person does not live on food alone but on everything that comes from eh mouth of the LORD.”

This verse was spoken 1400 years earlier by Moses. The circumstance was similar. That’s look at the entire passage:

“He humbled you, allowing you to become hungry, and then fed you with manna, which neither you roe your ancestors had ever known, to make you understand that a person does not live on food alone, but on everything that comes form the mouth of the LORD.” (Deuteronomy 8:3)

God provided starving Israel with manna, but they grumbled and complained about it. They were thankful only for a moment. Would Jesus, the Son of God, behave as Israel did in the wilderness? Or would Jesus remain faithful? As the second Moses, Jesus quotes Moses and passes the test.

Matthew Chapter 3 (Part Four)

 Verse 11: In verse 11, Jesus is formally introduced by John.

John’s baptism calls for an immersion in water which amounts to a public confession of the worshiper's act of repentance. He says the One who is coming (Jesus) will immerse this same repentant worshiper in the Holy Spirit and with fire. Immersion in water is only ritually symbolic in one sense, but yet it is done as an obedience to the commandment of God. However, immersion into the Holy Spirit actually changes the very nature of the person.

This change is expressed by the words which follow the Holy Spirit. That is, the word “fire”. Remember what we just discussed: fire is used for purification or it is used for destruction. The “fire” of the Holy Spirit brings divine purification to the worshiper, stripping the person of the uncleanness caused by a life of sinning, and making him acceptable to God. This is in contrast to the person remaining unclean and unacceptable to God, thus suffering the divine destruction which will come to those who refuse the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

We need to be very careful as we encounter phrases such as “immersion into the Holy Spirit”, immersed in “fire”, etc. The writers of the Bible were under the inspiration of God. They used metaphors, illustrations and cultural expressions of the physical world they were familiar with in order to help describe and explain the otherwise inexplicable. But the physical is not the spiritual. So we must not carry the illustrations too far.

One of the main obstacles for Believers in the 21st Century is to grasp what these metaphors and illustrations used meant to 1st Century Jews. It is only looking at these saying within that context which is the most correct.

Verse 12: Verse 12 presents the contrast to the last words of verse 11. In verse 11 John speaks of the repentant worshiper being immersed into the Holy Spirit and fire (or purification). In verse 12, John now speaks of the alternative. In this illustration, we have the same wheat from the same harvest is winnowed.

Winnowing is the process of separation. In the winnowing process, a winnowing fork is used to toss the harvest up into the air, and the breeze carries away the lighter part but the heavier part falls to the threshing floor. The grain is seed and put away, but the unusable chaff is gathered up and burned.

The winnowing is another metaphor used to illustrate the consequence of those who refused the baptism offered by Jesus—a baptism John says that he cannot offer. The Believer’s experience with fire will purify them. The non-Believer’s experience with fire will destroy him.  

A Short Detour
If we take a short detour, the Apostle Paul also talks about fire and about its ability to purify and destroy. In 1 Corinthians chapter 3, Paul talks about our works. He states our works will be tested with fire.

10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each person must be careful how he builds on it. 11 For no one can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw, 13 each one’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test [e]the quality of each one’s work. 14 If anyone’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet only so as through fire. (1 Corinthians 3:10-15)
 

Notice how anything which is built upon the foundation will be tested by fire. Things which are precious such as gold, silver and precious stones can withstand the fire. The things which are worthless such as wood hay and straw, fire will destroy.

Back to Matthew
If we look back at verse 10, we read that that axe is already laid at the root of the trees. The beginning words of verse 12 state “He has with Him His winnowing fork”. What do these two phrases say if you were a Jew living in the 1st Century? To me it says: “imminent”. They would say these events are about to happen any day. Those words do not convey to me “it will happen some time in the future”.

John and Jesus were not the one to raise the alert about the Apocalypse. They were living in the times of the expectation of it. Their presence and message also seem to validate it. The believe that the Jews were already in the End Times was well established. It was further believed  that with each passing year of the Roman occupation, a new atrocity was placed upon the Jews.

Verse 13: Verse 13 takes a sudden change of tone of what will happen when Jesus comes to John’s baptism. We are told where John had been baptizing people—in the River Jordan.

A question which may arise is why is John baptizing in the Jordan River and not in one of the many mikvehs in about around Jerusalem? The answer is that more than likely it is because the Temple authorities never would have allowed it since it would have been under Temple rules and supervision. We have established that John was not welcomed in the Temple. So, he had to baptize someplace where the Temple authorities had little control. The solution was the Jordan River.

The place where John was regularly baptizing people and living has been found. There is a place east of Jerusalem at the Jordan River which includes a cave. We are told John lived in the desert. He needed to keep a certain distance from the Jewish religious authorities, and this place would have provided this distance.
 

Verse 14: When Jesus arrives at the Jordan River, John balks at the suggestion he should baptize this man. John has already said that he is not worthy to carry His sandals. But Jesus insists on being baptized.

The controversy and doctrine debates surrounding Jesus’ immersion by John is hard to overstate. There are at least nine different explanations for Jesus seeking this baptism. I am not sure I agree with any of them.

One thing which leads to many of these strange doctrines is that they are trying to vault Jesus from His 1st century Jewish culture into our present age. The doctrines want to leave behind Jesus’ Jewishness and make Him a Christian.

When we discuss this event and take into account the very Jewish nature of it, some aspects of it become more clear. First and foremost, this was not Jesus’ first immersion. He would have been immersed hundreds of times by this point in His life, just as any observant Jew would have. This is especially true for a Jew who was living in the Holy Land.

Immersions were required for many, many reasons. If a person came in contact with a menstruating woman, the person had to be immersed in water. If a man had a seminal emission, he had to be immersed in water. If someone touched a dead body, he had to immerse himself in water. There are many other instances where a person was to be immersed. If a person did not get immersed, he was considered unclean. Someone who was unclean could not enter the Temple grounds. Also, someone who was unclean could get other people unclean by touching them. Thus, if anyone was planning on going to the Temple, he would try to stay away from someone who was unclean.

As you can see, being unclean is more important for someone living in the Holy Land. Any time the person wanted to go to the Temple he had to undergo and immersion. These immersions are translated into English as baptisms (derived from the Latin baptizo).

We know from the Gospels, Jesus touched dead bodies and a woman with a blood issue. He would have been unclean and would have had to undergo immerse to enter the Temple grounds.

I say all this because many Christians believe this was the first time Jesus was immersed. This is not true. Jesus had undergone this ritual numerous times. What is the significance of this particular immersion? I am not entirely sure. I will leave that for your own speculation.

Matthew Chapter 3 (Part Three)

Verse 7: In verse 7, we find representatives of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to John to question him. John did not welcome them, calling them vipers. He also sarcastically asks who warned them about the soon coming of God’s weather, implying that they did now know about it or were not ready for it.

The Pharisees and Sadducees represent both sides of the Jewish religious system. The Pharisees were associated with the synagogue system and the Sadducees the Temple system.

The Sadducees were Jewish aristocrats who ruled the Temple. When the Maccabees succeeded in taking the Temple back from the pagan leader Antiochus Epiphanes and his army (about 190 years earlier than John the Baptist) the Temple leadership structured or occupied by the Levites, the clan which God had ordained to run the Temple. Rather, unauthorized priests (not of the correct priestly lineage) were put in charge, and then later those who became High Priest purchased their way into their prestigious and powerful positions.

To understand what a mockery of the Temple system these Sadducees were, one must try to piece together what it is that they believed and taught. To begin with, the Sadducees were complicit with Rome in their handling of the Jewish people since the only thing which actually mattered to them was holding on to their wealth and authority. They did not believe in resurrection and refused acceptance of any kind of afterlife. They believed not in human freewill or even God’s will, per se, but rather in the Greco-Roman concept of fate. These doctrines would set them on a path of irreconcilable difference with the teachings of Jesus. The Sadducees also denied the authority of the Oral Torah also known as Jewish Law, Tradition, oral tradition and Halakah.

Sometimes it can be difficult to trace why a religious sect believes what they do and denies what they do. But in the case of the Sadducees, denying the authority of the oral tradition is rather obvious. It was a result of their political and religious rivalry with the Pharisees.

The oral tradition was the center and focus of the teachings of the religious and political sect of Pharisees.

Remember from previous discussions, the dual religious system which was in which in the first century A.D. The Pharisees were in charge of the synagogue system. The Sadducees were in charge of the Temple.

The common Jews and many of the the wealthier Jews were attached to one synagogue. This is where they obtained their moral, ethical and religious instruction. Much of their social life revolved around the synagogue.

The Temple system was where the common people went when they needed legal justice. The Sanhedrin was at the Temple. It was the highest court. It is also where they followed God’s laws concerning sacrificing, tithing and observing the ordinances of the appointed times including the biblical feasts. The Temple was where, according to the Bible, the people were to go for direct instruction of the Torah from the Levite priests, but that practice had died out long ago.

John the Baptist knew that nothing he was going to say would change the minds of the Pharisees and Sadducees. He knew they did not come to him to seek truth. Rather, they came to intimidate the people who were flocking to John.

The Pharisees and Sadducees were rivals, but they were not enemies. They were unified in the motive of wanting to guard their religious territory and authority. The growing flocks of people seeking out John sent up a red flag.

John characterizes the two representatives as trying to avoid God’s coming wrath. This once again plays into the Elijah and the End Times scenario because Elijah was believed throughout Judaism to appear shortly before the Day of the LORD when God would pour out His wrath.

The common people thought they were living in the End Times. Without a doubt, the Apostles Paul and Peter believed they were living in the Last Days and taught it to anyone who would listen.

Verse 8: John says to the Pharisees and Sadducees that is they are sincerely coming to confess or repent then they need to bear fruit to prove it. This concept of fruit, meaning works and good deeds, as the necessary proof of one’s faith in the God of Israel is stated several times in various New Testament books. The one statement which is perhaps the best known is in the Book of James.

“Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food, and someone says to him, ‘Peace! Keep warm and eat hearty!’ without giving him what he needs, what good does it do? Thus faith by itself, unaccompanied by actions, is dead. But someone will say that you have faith and I have actions. Show me your faith without actions, and I will show you my faith by my actions!” (James 2:15-18)

Feeling sorry for people in need is not the same thing as taking action to help people in need. Good fruit is not our nice thoughts and well wishes. It is physical, tangible deeds which we do to alleviate the sufferings of other. While James uses this good fruit as proof of our faith, John uses it as proof of our sincerity. John then takes it one step farther by telling these religious authorities that simply being a Hebrew descended from Abraham (the father of all Hebrews) is not good enough to be in good standing with God. That is, being a Jew does not negate the need for personal forgiveness of sins, restoration and redemption, or for performing good deeds.

The takeaway message is that sincere trust in God can only be proven by one’s outward deed and actions. This begins with our obedience to God. One’s affiliation to a group or one’s family heritage does not include or exclude anyone from having peace with God. However, it there is no obedience, and there are no good deeds ad work to go along with a professed faith, then one’s faith is to be doubted. This lack of fruit should be an alarm signal to one’s self that perhaps we have been deceiving ourselves.

Jesus soberly warns us:
“Any tree that does not produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire! So you will recognize them by their fruit. Now everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, only those who do what my Father in heaven wants. On that Day, many will to me, ‘Lord, Lord! Did we not prophesy in your name? Did we not expel demons in your name? Did we not perform many miracles in your name?’ Then I will tell them to their faces, ‘I never know you! Get away from me, you workers of lawlessness!” (Matthew 7:19-23)

Verse 10: In verse 10, John tells the Sadducees and Pharisees that they are insincere. He uses the the metaphor of an axe chopping down a tree which does not produce good fruit. It is then destroyed with fire.

The tree represents a person who is a member of God’s covenant community—an Israelite. The fruit is the product of that person’s life, that is his actions and deeds. It is what is seen outwardly that is a window into that person’s character. It reveals what that person is. Bad fruit comes from bad character; good fruit comes from good character.

In the context of Judaism, bad fruit means evil deeds or lack of good deed. Good fruit means doing good deeds and works. Jesus uses a very similar analogy in Matthew 7:16-20:
“You will recognize them by their fruit. Can people pick grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? Likewise, every healthy tree produces good fruit, but a poor tree produces bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, or a poor tree good fruit. Any tree that does not produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire! So you will recognize them by their fruit.”

In the Bible, God uses fire mostly for two purposes: for purification or for destruction. Purification is used to burn off the dross. Dross is the part of silver which has impurities in it. Dross applied to our lives includes our imperfections and sin. When the dross is removed, the pure silver is left behind. Destruction is to take a wicked thing and end its existence.

From John’s message, the leaders and teachers of the Temple and the Synagogue are those ones who are being warned.

Matthew Chapter 3 (Part Two)

A brief Detour
Baptize
It is here in which we need to pause and take a brief detour to explain some terms. John is called the Baptist or the Immerser.

For Jews to be immersed (or baptizein in the language of the Greeks) was meant in the same sense as one might dye a piece of cloth. That is, one dips cloth into a vat of colored dye and when removed that cloth has taken on the characteristics (the color) of the dye.

However, for Jews, the dipping and absorbing of characteristics was also meant in a religious context which revolved around ritual purity. Before a Jew could present his offering at the Temple, he first had to be immersed in a mikveh located near the Temple grounds. This immersion was in obedience to several passages in Leviticus which prescribed this immersion and washing to remedy any of a number of causes for the worshiper who had become ritually impure.

As to the actual immersion process, so far as the ancient documents tell us, a Jew was not dubbed by another person. Rather, it was a self-immersion. Even today there often is a supervisor at a mikveh to make sure that a person is 100% unclothed, has no open wound on him and has submerged every last hair. The supervisor also watches for a few other violations. We do read that John is said to have baptized people, and this is usually taken to mean that he physically immersed the worshippers. But in actuality, his role was probably that of a supervisor.

The term baptizein (baptize) means to “immerse”. Hundreds of years ago within the church the practice of sprinkling began. How sprinkling began is not known. However, David Sterns notes that in the 16th and 17th centuries some in the Church revolted against this substitution of sprinkling for immersion. The first groups to break away called themselves “baptists”.

Kingdom of Heaven
The term the kingdom of heaven has essentially the same meaning and is interchangeable with the phrase the kingdom of God. Some Jews prefer the term the kingdom of heaven because they do not want to use the word “God” due to the taboo of saying His name. This began around 300 B.C. Jews who are more strict and who live in the Holy Land tend to avoid using the term “God” in any context.

It is noteworthy that Matthew is the one Gospel writer who almost exclusively uses the term the kingdom of Heaven instead of the kingdom of God. For the other three Gospel writers, it is the reverse. This could be that Matthew was a very religious and pious Holy Land Jew.

Verse 4: Verse four says that John wore a garment of camel’s hard and a leather belt around his waist.
In 2 Kings 1:8, we read this about Elijah the prophet.

“He was a hairy man,” they answered him, “with a leather belt around his waist.” He said, “It was Elijah the Tishbite.” (2 Kings 1:8)

Since Matthew seeks to connect Elijah and John together, with John essentially the new Elijah, it can be no coincidence that John’s appearance was described as hairy and with a leather belt, just as Elijah’s was.

Eating locusts and honey was not the Jews’ regular diet. It was survival food.

Certain kinds of locusts were considered kosher food for Jews (for more details, please see Leviticus 11). It may not sound appetizing to us, but the Hebrews were not and are not the only culture which finds eating certain insects to be an acceptable addition to their diet.

What is the wild honey which John lives off of? It is probably bee honey taken from colonies of bees. Bees often make their hives in trees, hallows of trees, carcasses of dead animals, etc. In other words, John ate honey which was not cultivated by humans.

It was believed that man-made hives and bee husbandry was a relatively late development. However, in the last ten years, an archeological dig in northern Israel uncovered a large cache of man-made beehives. They are dated to around 900 B.C. (just after the time of King Solomon). These are by far the oldest beehives ever discovered anywhere in the world.

John the Baptist lived a life not connected to regular Jewish society. He wore the outfit of an ancient prophet, most likely to identify him with that profession. One thing to ask ourselves is what was the attraction of John the baptist to people from Jerusalem and Judea who wanted to be baptized by him. Their purpose was to confess their sins. This was not symbolic to identify with Jesus (as Jesus had not begun His ministry). He seems likely that many people in Jerusalem and Judea thought that John was indeed the prophesied return of Elijah. He looked like Elijah, dressed like him and acted like him.

It has been long known (and can be gleaned from the New Testament) that common every day Jews in that era felt so oppressed by Rome that they were certain they had to be living in the prophesied End Times. And since the Prophet Malachi said the Elijah would come before the Day of the LORD (meaning that Elijah would re-appear in the End Times), then it makes sense that John would be seen as Elijah, whether he confessed this or not. In fact when directly confronted about it as recorded in John 1:21, John the Baptist said he was not Elijah. This may be a similar response likened on to when Jesus was asked if He was the Messiah, He was elusive. Whatever answer John gave, it did not matter to most people. They were convince he was the second coming of Elijah.

It is difficult to understand exactly why the people came to be immersed if it was not to see Elijah. It does not help much to read the other Gospel accounts on this matter because they each give the meaning for folks wanting John’s baptism as something a little different. One says it was for the forgiveness of sins; another says it was for repenting. Matthew says in one verse it was for confession and in another for repenting. John the Baptist is also quoted as saying it was for avoiding God’s wrath. This is probably why the next verse states the religious authorities from Jerusalem came to investigate. If this was indeed Elijah or just another holy man who wanted to gain a following, they needed to know.