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.