Articulos Mesiánicos de Mateo

Artículos de Mateo

Pacifism and Retaliation

How does the principle of “turn the other cheek” work in a world threatened with violence, terrorism, and war?

Yeshua instructed His disciples to forgive injury and insult and forgo retaliation. He asked them to set aside their personal right to demand “an eye for an eye” and to turn the other cheek. He said, “I say to you, do not resist an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also” (Matthew 5:39).

The Master’s censure on retaliation does not extend to an institutional level. He did not ask law courts to set aside justice for the sake of mercy, nor did He ask governments to adopt policies of pacifism and appeasement toward tyrants and adversaries. In no way does Yeshua imply that the Torah’s measure-for-measure principle of justice should be abandoned.

Imagine what would happen if a court of law decided to apply Yeshua’s instructions to the courtroom. Imagine a case involving an assailant and his victim. Suppose the judge decided to be merciful and pardon the guilty criminal on the basis of Matthew 5:38-39. Then he told the victim that she must turn the other cheek and forgive the assailant. Such a court would be guilty of committing a serious injustice. God is a God of justice and truth, not injustice.

Likewise, some followers of Yeshua use the “do not resist an evil person” passage to justify an ideology of pacifism and non-violence. When we understand the words, “do not resist an evil person” from a Semitic and Jewish perspective and then compare those words with similar passages from the Hebrew Scriptures, Yeshua’s words carry the more direct meaning of “do not compete with an evil person in doing evil,” i.e., “do not retaliate.” The Delitzsch Hebrew English version of Matthew follows a similar rendering: “Do not retaliate against a wicked person.” That is to say, “Do not repay evil with evil.” Paul paraphrases the Master’s teaching when he says, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21).

Do not say, “I will repay evil”; wait for the LORD, and He will save you. (Proverbs 20:22)

Do not say, “Thus I shall do to him as he has done to me; I will render to the man according to his work.” (Proverbs 24:29)

Forgiveness is the prerogative and privilege of the injured. No one else can forgive on his or her behalf. Yeshua’s teachings against retaliation, personal vengeance, and demanding one’s “pound of flesh” apply to the individual, not to a court of law, not to a community, and not to a government. Indeed, a court that set aside the principles of punishment and fair compensation would be an unjust court. An administration that refused to protect its citizens from aggression based on a principle of non-retaliation would be an unfit government. But praiseworthy and pious is the man or woman who willingly chooses to forgive an offender and forego his or her right to exact a measure of retaliation.

Eye for Eye

Did Yeshua’s law of love overturn the Old Testament’s harsh eye-for-eye standard of justice? Take a closer look.

Jewish law courts did not actually poke out eyes and knock out teeth. The Torah’s eye-for-eye laws created axiomatic limits for restitution and damages imposed by formal courts of law. (Image © Bigstock/NejroN Photo/FFOZ)

It’s commonly believed that Yeshua’s teachings about love, forgiveness, and turning the other cheek contradict the harsh Old Testament standard of justice. The Torah says, “eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise” (Exodus 21:24). Yeshua seemed to contradict the rule of repaying measure for measure when He said, “I say to you, do not resist an evil person.”

You have heard that it was said, “An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.” But I say to you, do not resist an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. (Matthew 5:38-39)

Did Torah really encourage people to take personal revenge? No. In the context of Jewish interpretation, the Torah’s eye-for-eye laws created axiomatic limits for restitution and damages imposed by formal courts of law. Eye-for-eye is a biblical expression for fair and equitable punishment. Jewish law courts did not actually poke out eyes and knock out teeth. Rather the court of law ascribed a penalty or punishment considered to be of equal value (usually monetary) to the offence committed. “Eye-for-eye” means “let the punishment fit the crime.” The Torah imposes the eye-for-eye rule as a standard for liability in a court of law.

Nevertheless, people often invoke the standard of eye-for-eye as a justification for taking personal vengeance, and they did so in the days of the Master too. Yeshua corrected that error. He urged His disciples to be an entirely different breed of people. His message to them was, “Do not press charges. Do not litigate. Do not demand your rights. Do not demand your fair measure or pound of flesh.” In the same regard He told His disciples to turn the other cheek, settle out of court, and go the extra mile. These are a few of the practical out-workings of His teaching regarding forgiveness: “If you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you” (Matthew 6:14).

These instructions sound like impossible demands until we remember that there is a judge in a higher court of law that will one day settle all accounts. The Talmud offers corroboration:

Regarding those who are insulted but do not return an insult, those who are rebuked without replying, those who do good merely out of love for God and who rejoice in their sufferings, the scripture says [in Judges 5:31]: “Let those who love Him be like the rising of the sun in its might.” Indeed, such a man keeps a matter in his heart [and does not retaliate]. And Raba said, “He who passes over an opportunity to retaliate has all his transgressions passed over.” (b.Yoma 23a)

Lost Sayings of Yeshua about Love and Hatred

Two sayings of Yeshua from the no-longer extant Gospel of the Hebrews underscore His teachings about love, anger, hatred, and insult.

(Image © First Fruits of Zion)

The Torah says, “You shall not murder” (Exodus 20:13), but the Master says that anger, hatred, insult, and public humiliation are tantamount to murder. Two forgotten sayings of Yeshua further illustrate his teaching.

He warned His disciples that murder begins with anger in the heart.

But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, 'You good-for-nothing,' shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, “You fool,” shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell. (Matthew 5:22)

The apostle John explained the Master’s words as follows: “Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him” (1 John 3:15). The Didache interprets the teaching as follows: “Do not be an angry person, for anger leads to murder; nor be envious, nor adversarial, nor hot-tempered, for from all these things murder results” (Didache 3:2).

The Church father Jerome read Hebrew, and he had access to a copy of the now lost Jewish Gospel of the Hebrews. In his exposition on the Epistle to the Ephesians, Jerome quotes a brief passage from the Gospel of the Hebrews in which the Master says, “And never be joyful, except when you look upon your brother in love.” The otherwise unknown saying corresponds well to Yeshua’s teachings about the brotherly love. Since a word of hatred incurs the wrath of God and quarrels separate us from God, the disciple cannot have joy so long as he holds unloving or hateful thoughts against his brother.

The sages regarded publicly shaming or embarrassing a person as a grievous sin. In the no-longer extant Gospel of the Hebrews, Yeshua says that one of the most serious sins a man can commit is that of vexing his brother:

And in the Gospel which is according to the Hebrews which the Nazarenes are accustomed to read, among the worst crimes is set he who has distressed the spirit of his brother. (Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel)

Anger, quarreling, and public insults may be punished in a court of law on earth such as the local court (beit din) or even the high court (sanhedrin), but ultimately, if not in a court on earth, a person who publicly shames and insults another must pay the penalty of character assassination in the “fire of hell.” Rabbinic teaching contains similar sentiments:

• Whoever hates his neighbor is among those who shed blood. (Derech Eretz Rabba 11)
• He who publicly shames his neighbor is as though he shed blood. (b.Bava Metzia 58b)
• Better that a man throw himself into a fiery furnace than publicly put his neighbor to shame. (b.Bava Metzia 59b)

Pure of Heart

No one can see God—except for the pure in heart. That’s good news for the pure in heart, but what about the rest of us?

No one can see God except for the pure in heart. (Image: © Bigstock/dpyancy / Composition: FFOZ)

The LORD told Moses, “You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!” (Exodus 33:20). Nevertheless, Yeshua taught that the “pure in heart” will see God. He said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8).

Biblical Hebrew uses the word “heart” to refer to the mind, the core from which a human being thinks, reasons, and acts. Why does Yeshua say that the pure in heart will see God? According to the Torah’s laws of ritual purity, only the Levitically pure may enter into the holy Temple where God dwells. Levitical purity is a prerequisite to entering God’s presence. Psalm 24 brings that ritual-purity symbolism into the moral sphere:

Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD? And who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood and has not sworn deceitfully. (Psalm 24:3-4)

In Psalm 24, the man with “clean hands and a pure heart” is a man of integrity. Yeshua also borrowed from the language of Torah regarding ritual purity to speak of moral purity:

For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders. These are the things which defile the man. (Matthew 15:19-20)

The impure heart is a deceitful and devious mind which cherishes sin and meditates upon unwholesome intentions. The man with a pure heart does not harbor deceit, malice, or immorality in his mind. He will receive a pure revelation of God, as it says, “The upright will behold His face” (Psalm 11:7), and “I shall behold Your face in righteousness; I will be satisfied with Your likeness when I awake” (Psalm 17:15). Therefore, the writer of the book of Hebrews tells us to pursue “the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14).

This is good news for the pure in heart, but what about the rest of us? The LORD says that, in the Messianic Era, “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses … I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you” (Ezekiel 36:25-26). Then “the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together” (Isaiah 40:5).

Hunger and Thirst

Who will be satisfied? Those who hunger and thirst for food and drink, or those who hunger and thirst for righteousness? Yeshua has a surprising answer.

Hungry children receiving humanitarian help (Image: © Bigstock/zurijeta)

Yeshua taught his disciples that those who hunger and thirst now are especially blessed because they will enjoy being satisfied in the Messianic Era. Does this refer to the poor and needy who literally hunger from lack of food and thirst from lack of clean water? Or does it refer to a spiritual hunger and thirst? The gospels report two different versions of the saying with two different connotations.

In Luke’s version of the sermon on the mount, Yeshua says, “Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be satisfied” (Luke 6:21), and, “Woe to you who are well-fed now, for you shall be hungry” (Luke 6:25). The tradition preserved in the apocryphal Gospel of Thomas agrees with Luke’s version: “Blessed are those who go hungry, for the stomach of the one in want will be filled” (Thomas 69). These sayings indicate that Yeshua had literal poverty, scarcity, and want in view. In the kingdom of heaven, roles will be reversed. Those who suffer want and need due to misfortune and social injustice in this present age will be well-fed in the Messianic Age while those who feed their own stomachs without giving thought for the needy will find themselves experiencing hunger and poverty. Then the words of Mary’s prophecy will be fulfilled: “He has filled the hungry with good things; and sent away the rich empty-handed” (Luke 1:53).

On the other hand, Matthew’s version of the sermon on the mount changes the subject from those who suffer physical hunger to those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. At first, this seems to have a very different meaning, but on closer examination, there is no conflict between the two versions.

In Matthew 5:6, the word “righteousness” refers to the vindication of God’s people Israel. One who hungers and thirsts for righteousness is one who yearns for the reversal of the social and moral injustices perpetrated upon the people of God. As the Jewish people groaned under Roman tyranny, they hungered and thirsted for the day that God would vindicate them and usher in His kingdom on earth. The Master assured His disciples that their yearning for God’s righteous vindication would be satiated when the Messianic Era comes.

Therefore the two versions of the saying are complementary; they do not contradict one another. When the kingdom comes, the literally hungry and thirsty will be satisfied, and that reversal of circumstance will satisfy all who have hungered and thirsted for righteousness and justice.

Who are the Poor in Spirit?

Yeshua says that the poor will inherit the kingdom. That sounds great if you are poor. But what if you aren’t?

 

(Image credit: Bigstock)

Our Master Yeshua had a divine mandate to proclaim good news to the poor. He declared the poor to be inheritors of the Messianic Era. In Luke’s gospel, Rabbi Yeshua declares, “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God” (Luke 6:20). Why do the poor receive the Messianic Era?

In the Messianic Era, the first will be last and the last will be first. The kingdom reverses the value system of this present age. The kingdom will satisfy those who once suffered in want. That’s good news for the poor, but not such good news for the wealthy. “Woe to you who are rich, for you are receiving your comfort in full” (Luke 6:24). “It is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 19:23). The rich have failed to store their treasure in heaven; they have stored up treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy.

Most of us don’t think that we are rich, but by comparison with world poverty and the standard of living in Yeshua’s day, the majority of modern people in developed, first-world countries are rich. So what can we do about it?

Matthew’s version of the saying offers a little more hope for the affluent disciple: “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” The poor in spirit might be men of wealth, but they conduct themselves with the lowly attitude of the poor. They do not rely upon their riches or live according to the extravagances of the wealthy. A rich man who is also poor in spirit does not conduct himself with the haughtiness and pride that his wealth affords. He lives modestly, humbly, and below his means. He uses his wealth for the kingdom. By the same measure, a poor man who lives extravagantly and at the expense of others is not poor in spirit:

There is one who pretends to be rich, but has nothing; another pretends to be poor, but has great wealth. (Proverbs 13:7)

James, the brother of the Master, explains the “poor in spirit” as those who refuse to glory in their wealth but adopt the attitude of the humble, remembering that their lives are fragile and quickly fleeting (James 1:10-11). Paul warns those who are rich “not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy,” and He urges the rich to be generous in good deeds and sharing in order to story treasure for the future” (1 Timothy 6:17-19).

Job Description for a Disciple

What does it mean to be a disciple? Being a disciple means that when the teacher sits down, it’s time to straighten up and pay attention.

The Master teaches his disciples at the sea. (Image: Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain. Watercolor by Tissot (c. 1886 – 1894))

Large crowds followed our Master Yeshua, but Yeshua did not seek large numbers of followers. Instead, He wanted a few good men and women. He sought disciples. The Gospel of Matthew says, “When Yeshua saw the crowds, He went up on the mountain.” He went up on the mountain to escape the crowds so that He could teach His disciples. It says, “After He sat down, His disciples came to Him” (Matthew 5:1).

When His disciples saw Him sit down, they came near to Him because they knew He was about to start teaching. The rabbis always taught from a seated position. In the vernacular of first-century Judaism, a rabbi sitting down is the equivalent of a pastor stepping up to a pulpit. The phrase “he sat and taught” appears commonly in rabbinic literature to refer to a rabbi discoursing on a subject of Torah. That explains why His disciples gathered around him when they saw him sit down. It was their job.

Discipleship already existed as a well-established institution within Judaism long before the appearance of Yeshua and his followers. All the great sages, the rabbis, the sages among the Pharisees, and the teachers of the Torah had disciples. The Hebrew word for disciple is talmid (תלמיד), a word that simply means “student.” The plural is talmidim (תלמידים): students. A disciple’s job was to learn everything that his master had to teach.

Disciples memorized their teacher’s interpretations, explanations, and exegesis of scripture. They memorized the stories, parables, illustrations, and anecdotes their teacher told. They learned to practice Torah by imitating their teacher and incorporating his manner of observance into their own. Disciples kept the Torah the way they learned to keep it from their teacher. A disciple endeavored to become like his or her teacher: “A pupil is not above his teacher; but everyone, after he has been fully trained, will be like his teacher” (Luke 6:40).

After the disciple was fully trained, he became the teacher and passed on the teaching to disciples of his own, who, in turn, when fully trained, became teachers and raised up disciples of their own. They taught their disciples in the name of their own teacher, and his teacher, and his teacher’s teacher … transmitting a body of oral tradition as vast as the sea. This was the method of higher, religious education in the days of Yeshua.

When the disciples saw their teacher sit down, they knew what was expected of them. They had a job to do. So they stepped forward, and He began to teach.

As His disciples, we have the same job. The teacher is seated. Are you ready to learn?

Impossible Standards?

Yeshua sets the standards so high that some have concluded that his teachings were only meant to reveal human sin and inadequacy.

A single text from the Torah summarizes the Master’s approach to kingdom-living: “You shall do what is right and good in the sight of the LORD, that it may be well with you and that you may go in and possess the good land which the LORD swore to give your fathers” (Deuteronomy 6:18). (Image © Bigstock)

Yeshua called His disciples to observe a standard of personal righteousness even higher than the religiously scrupulous of His day. He said that, unless our righteousness exceeds that of the Pharisees, we will not enter the kingdom:

For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:20)

The rest of the Sermon on the Mount goes on to explain what he meant by exceeding the standards of the Pharisees. Yeshua sets the standards so high that some theologians and wishful thinkers have concluded that his teachings in the Sermon on the Mount were only meant to reveal human sin and inadequacy, demonstrating our inability to earn salvation on the basis of our righteousness. According to this idea, Yeshua taught the Sermon on the Mount only to convict His disciples of their depravity and to convince them of their need for God’s grace and forgiveness; therefore the Sermon on the Mount was meant to contradict the ideas of the Pharisees who taught that a man must earn his salvation through his works.

Is that what the Sermon on the Mount really means? Did Yeshua simply want to show his disciples that their good works could never merit eternal life?

This interpretation is problematic because it reverses the teaching of Yeshua, reducing it to a moral beating designed only to persuade us that we cannot possibly live up to God’s standards. It allows a person to actually disregard Yeshua’s high standards while saying, “Thank God I’m saved by grace and not by works.”

Moreover, the Pharisees also taught that men are sinful and that human beings need of God’s grace and forgiveness. Judaism does not teach that man must earn his salvation through the perfect performance of good works. Instead, Judaism teaches that man is sinful and must rely on God’s forgiveness and mercy for salvation. According to Jewish teaching, a man should repent and confess his sins and trust in the mercy of his heavenly Father.

Yeshua was not morally brow-beating His disciples to impress upon them their human depravity. He said that the disciple who hears His words but does not do them is like a foolish man who builds his house on the sand.

A single text from the Torah summarizes the Master’s approach to kingdom-living: “You shall do what is right and good in the sight of the LORD, that it may be well with you and that you may go in and possess the good land which the LORD swore to give your fathers” (Deuteronomy 6:18). In apostolic teaching, the words “go in and possess the good land” are the symbolic equivalent to entering the Kingdom of Heaven.

More Righteous than the Pharisees

Is it possible to keep all the commandments, to be “Torah observant,” and still miss the main point of the Torah? Messiah points us to the inner meaning of the Torah.

The “righteousness” of the scribes and Pharisees to which the Master referred is not exoneration and justification in the final judgment, rather it refers to the sum of one’s good deeds, from giving charity to visiting the sick to self-sacrifice to Torah observance. (Image Bigstock)

The Master said that unless the righteousness of His disciples exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, they will not enter the Messianic Era( Matthew 5:20). The conventional stereotype assumes that the Pharisees and teachers of the Torah were merely hypocrites pretending to be pious. Under that assumption, the righteousness of the Pharisees and scribes was only a false piety which any sincere-hearted person might easily exceed. Is the stereotype correct?

Yeshua frequently collided with the Pharisees regarding matters of interpretation, and He soundly denounced ostentatious shows of religious snobbery. In this case, Yeshua was not denigrating the Pharisees; He held them up as a high model which He asked His disciples to transcend.

The Pharisees and the teachers of the Torah observed the Torah scrupulously. How could the Master have asked His disciples to reach a level of righteousness higher than theirs? When the disciples heard this, their hearts must have sunk. The “righteousness” of the scribes and Pharisees to which the Master referred is not exoneration and justification in the final judgment, rather it refers to the sum of one’s good deeds, from giving charity to visiting the sick to self-sacrifice to Torah observance.

The Master went on to explain exactly what He meant with the rest of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). He takes a well known commandment such as “do not murder” or “do not commit adultery” and He reveals the deepest moral and ethical core behind the commandment. He gives specific examples by internalizing the prohibition against murder with a prohibition against anger, slander, and insult. He internalizes the prohibition against adultery with a prohibition against lust. He internalizes the sanctity of marriage with a prohibition on divorce for the sake of remarriage. He internalizes the prohibition on taking God’s name in vain by prohibiting oaths. Each fence around the original commandment raises the standard of righteousness higher than even normal Pharisaic practice.

Yeshua’s teachings reveal the moral, ethical intention behind the commandments and expose the internal deviancy of the heart of man. He cuts past external appearances and plants the inner meaning of the Torah deep in the heart.

It does not mean that a disciple never becomes angry with his brother or on occasion speaks words of insult like, “you fool.” Unfortunately, we do, and the Master knows that we do, but He calls us to live out a higher standard of righteousness.

Avoiding the Debtor's Prison

Does God forgive us for the sins that we commit against others? Yeshua teaches us to settle matters with our brothers before trying to settle with God.

"Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison.…" (Image © Bigstock/FFOZ)

The gospel message proclaimed by Yeshua urged His generation to repent. He said, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” He foresaw a terrible doom hanging over the generation if they did not heed His message and repent from the sin of baseless hatred. He warned His disciples that anger and insult were lesser forms of murder—hatred in the heart. He called upon the people to prioritize love for one another.

The Master offered a practical application to His teaching about anger and insult. He told His disciples that before they go to the Temple to make a sacrifice, they should first make peace with an offended brother.

Therefore, if you are offering your sacrifice at the altar and remember that your brother has a dispute with you, leave your sacrifice there in front of the altar and go, atone before the face of your brother, then afterward come and offer your sacrifice. (Matthew 5:23-24)

A man should not attempt to approach God until he has sought forgiveness from his neighbor for any wrongdoing. This is in keeping with the rabbinic maxim that God forgives sins committed against Him but cannot forgive sins committed against others on their behalf.

Yeshua compared an offended brother to a creditor, and He compared the offender to a debtor facing the possibility of debtor’s prison. The Gentile courts of the Roman world routinely imprisoned debtors until they could pay their creditors. If a creditor pressed the charge in a Gentile court of law, he could have the delinquent debtor thrown into a debtor’s prison where he would remain until his debt was paid down to the last cent. The incarcerated debtors often died in prison. The wise debtor wanted to negotiate a settlement with his creditor before the matter reached such a court.

Yeshua advised that a man who had offended his neighbor go plead for forgiveness from the offended party like a delinquent debtor attempting to settle his debt: “On your way there make an effort to settle with him, so that he may not drag you before the judge, and the judge turn you over to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison” (Luke 12:58). If the sinner does not settle the matter with the offended party, he will eventually have to settle it in the heavenly court of law:

Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny. (Matthew 5:25-26)

The Year of Freedom

Individuals experience redemption on individual levels, but when Messiah comes, "all Israel will be saved."

(Image: © Bigstock)

The year of Jubilee is the year of freedom. According to the Torah, a Hebrew slave could only be enslaved for six years. Exodus 21:2 says, “If you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve for six years; but on the seventh he shall go out as a free man without payment.” Even if the Hebrew slave had not served his six years when the Jubilee arrived, his term of service ended and he went free.

This illustrates the difference between the personal salvation of the individual and the national salvation of Israel. Throughout the course of time, individuals experience redemption on individual levels, but when Messiah comes, “all Israel will be saved” (Romans 11:26).

The Torah uses a particular term for national salvation. The Hebrew word deror (דרור) seems to mean “free flowing” or “running.” The Bible uses it to describe the freedom and release that comes in the Jubilee:

You shall thus consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim a release (deror, דרור) through the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, and each of you shall return to his own property, and each of you shall return to his family. (Leviticus 25:10)

In the days of the prophet Jeremiah, the prophet rebuked Israel for failing to keep the law of releasing the Hebrew slave in the seventh year. King Zedekiah made a covenant with the people of Jerusalem to proclaim release (deror) for all of their Hebrew slaves. When the people reneged on the obligation to release their slaves, Jeremiah declared the following:

Therefore thus says the LORD, “You have not obeyed Me in proclaiming release (deror) each man to his brother and each man to his neighbor. Behold, I am proclaiming a release (deror) to you,” declares the LORD, “to the sword, to the pestilence and to the famine; and I will make you a terror to all the kingdoms of the earth.” (Jeremiah 34:17)

The same Hebrew word appears in Isaiah 61 in reference to the mission of the Messiah:

The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty (deror) to captives and freedom to prisoners; to proclaim the favorable year of the LORD. (Isaiah 61:1-2)

Yeshua read this passage from Isaiah in the Nazareth synagogue and applied it to Himself, saying, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:21). He identified Himself as the one anointed with the Spirit of the LORD and His mission of proclaiming the year of the LORD’S favor. This does not imply that the particular year Yeshua read the passage in the Nazareth synagogue was the Jubilee. Instead, the Master alluded to the prophetic significance of the Jubilee, namely, the final redemption and the dawning of the Messianic Era. Yeshua offered His generation the freedom of the final redemption and the kingdom of heaven if they would repent.

The generation did not, and we still wait for the final redemption. Nevertheless, the Master’s death and resurrection accomplished the redemption of our souls. If a person will repent and turn to the LORD for the forgiveness of sins in Yeshua’s name, he can enter into the spiritual Jubilee today. The Redeemer has already paid the price for the ransom, and He extends His hand to lift us up out of the miry pit. The doors of redemption stand open before us even now.

Adultery of the Heart

Improper thoughts about someone else’s spouse is a serious sin called adultery of the heart.

 

Jesus taught that even impure thoughts can constitute adultery of the heart. (Image © Bigstock/FFOZ)

Forty years before the destruction of the Temple, Yeshua proclaimed a gospel of repentance to His generation: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” He warned them that, if they did not repent, they would face a terrible judgment. He called upon the Jewish people of His day to turn from the sins of immorality and adultery.

The Master warned His disciples about a different type of adultery—an adultery that takes place in the mind. "Do not follow after your own heart and your own eyes" (Numbers 15:39). If a man gazes lustfully on another man’s wife, he has already committed adultery in his heart, that is to say, in his thoughts and intentions.

You have heard that it was said, “You shall not commit adultery”; but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. (Matthew 5:27-28)

The concern lies with the secret violation of another’s marriage. The Torah says, “You shall not commit adultery” (Exodus 20:14). The Torah defines adultery as sexual relations with a betrothed or married woman. On the basis of the Torah’s words, “a man shall be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh” (Genesis 2:24), Yeshua broadened the Torah's scope to include any breach of monogamous fidelity. He taught that even impure thoughts can constitute adultery of the heart.

James, the brother of the Master says, “When lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin” (James 1:15). The apostles transmitted the same principle to the early Gentile disciples: “My child, be not a lustful one; for lust leads the way to sexual immorality” (Didache 3:3).

Yeshua’s warning is consistent with similar warnings in Jewish literature. The Wisdom of Sirach says, “Veil your eyes before a beautiful woman, look not at another one’s beauty that does not belong to you” (Sirach 9:8). The second-century sage Reish Lakish seems to echo the words of Yeshua: “You must not suppose that only he who has committed the crime with his body is called an adulterer, if he commits adultery with his eyes he is also called an adulterer” (Leviticus Rabbah 23:12).

Sinful imagination leads to desire; desire to intent; intent to pursuit; pursuit to deed. This is to have you know how difficult it is for a person to turn back from one to the other. (Kalla Rabbati II, 6)

The punishment for committing adultery is death. Adultery of the heart is not the same as actual adultery. A Torah court of law on earth has no jurisdiction to try a man or sentence him for merely gazing on another man’s wife. Instead, Yeshua warned that adultery of the heart will be punished in the hereafter.

Straying After your Eyes

Society says that it doesn't hurt to look, but Yeshua teaches that sexual immorality—even in the privacy of our own minds—carries serious consequences.

The Torah warns us “not follow after your own heart and your own eyes, after which you played the harlot” (Numbers 15:39). Gazing on others with lust constitutes “following after your eyes.” Harboring immoral thoughts in the imagination constitutes “following after your own heart.” This is the adultery of the heart which Yeshua warned His disciples to avoid.

One might feel tempted to disregard Yeshua’s warnings as merely an expression of hyper-piety, but He emphasized the seriousness of the sin, warning of consequences in Gehenna. He said it would be better to cut off a member of one’s own body than to suffer the consequences after death.

An ancient explanation of the prohibition on adultery says that the Hebrew verb for “to commit adultery (tin’af, תנאף)” in Exodus 20:14 consists of four letters, in order to warn “lest you commit adultery with the hand, or with the foot, or with the eye, or with the heart.” Likewise Yeshua advised His disciples to cut off the offending hand or foot or pluck out the offending eye that leads them to commit adultery of the heart.

If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life crippled, than, having your two hands, to go into hell, into the unquenchable fire, where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched. If your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame, than, having your two feet, to be cast into hell ... If your eye causes you to stumble, throw it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, than, having two eyes, to be cast into hell ... (Mark 9:43-48)

In no sense should the Master’s words be taken literally to imply that a man should maim himself. Rabbi Yeshua employed rabbinic hyperbole typical of the sages to express the severity of the sin. Adultery of the heart does spiritual damage to a man’s soul on the same caliber as if he had physically maimed himself. Paul says, “Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body” (1 Corinthians 6:18).

Don't Swear at All!

Did the New Testament change the Old Testament’s laws about taking oaths and vows?

 

Yeshua, on the other hand, instructed His disciples not to swear at all. Is this an example of the New Testament overturning the Torah? (Image: © Bigstock/ra2studio)

The Torah allows for people to take oaths and vows, and it strictly warns against falsely swearing in God’s name. Yeshua, on the other hand, instructed His disciples not to swear at all. Is this an example of the New Testament overturning the Torah?

You have heard that the ancients were told, “You shall not make false vows, but shall fulfill your vows to the LORD.” But I say to you, make no oath at all. (Matthew 5:33-34)

At first glance, this teaching looks like a statement of antithesis—as if Yeshua forbids something that the Torah requires. On closer examination, there is no conflict between Yeshua’s words and the Torahs instructions regarding oaths and vows. The Torah warns against making false vows or breaking vows and oaths, but it does not require a man to make a vow or an oath in the first place.

Like Yeshua, many Jewish sages looked askance on taking vows and making oaths. Regarding the practice of vowing to abstain from something otherwise permissible, the sages said, “Are not the prohibitions laid down in the Torah sufficient for you, that you should seek to impose upon yourselves still other prohibitions?” They regarded taking any vow or oath as a risky enterprise best avoided. Several passages from the Talmud seek to dissuade people from the practice of taking vows:

It was taught, “Never make a practice of vowing, for ultimately you will trespass in the matter of oaths.” (b.Nedarim 20a)

Rabbi Nathan said, “Whoever vows is as though he built a high place.” (b.Nedarim 60b)

The sages also warned against taking an oath in God’s name for purposes of verification. Though the Torah sanctioned the practice, and law courts sometimes required it, the rabbis discouraged it. A man might be so certain of the truth that he swears in God’s name, yet at the same time, he might be mistaken or misled. Better not to swear at all.

In the late first century, the Jewish historian Josephus recorded that the Essene community swore off swearing altogether.

They insisted on such a high level of integrity that their simple word could be regarded as binding as an oath or vow. Josephus said, “Any word of theirs has more force than an oath; swearing they avoid, regarding it as worse than perjury, for they say that one who is not believed without an appeal to God stands condemned already.”

These examples illustrate that Yeshua was not overturning the Torah or introducing new standards in contradiction to Judaism. Instead, His words on the subject of taking oaths and vows are right at home in early Judaism and the teachings of the rabbis. They need to be understood within that context—not as a new prohibition on vows and oaths, but a serious check against the impulse to make frivolous ones.

People of Integrity

Disciples of Yeshua are bound by the reputations of their own integrity and need not rely on swearing oaths to verify their words.

 

Politician swearing an oath with fingers crossed behind back (Image: © Bigstock/Minerva Studio)

Since Judaism attempts to sanctify the holy name of God by leaving it unpronounced and even avoids circumlocutions like “Adonai” outside of a liturgical context, people taking oaths and vows sought ways around swearing directly in God’s name. In Matthew 5:33, the Master quoted two passages of Torah (Leviticus 19:12; Numbers 30:3[2]) that dishonest people apparently used in tandem to imply that only vows made in the name of the LORD were absolutely inviolable.

Again, you have heard that the ancients were told, “You shall not make false vows, but shall fulfill your vows to the LORD.” (Matthew 5:33)

According to some opinions of the time, a man is bound by an oath only when it contains the word “oath” in it or God’s name. An oath by any other holy object does not bind the man. The same issue was at work behind the Master’s rebuke in Matthew 23:16-22. In that passage, those who had sworn by the altar or by the Temple felt that, since they had avoided directly using God’s name, they were not bound to their vow.

Because people commonly used circumlocutions for God’s name such as vowing by heaven, vowing by earth or even vowing by Jerusalem, they felt less bound to their vows and oaths. Rabbi Yeshua warned His disciples that swearing by heaven or by earth is the same as swearing in the name of God because “Heaven is God’s throne and the earth is His footstool” (Isaiah 66:1). He warned them that swearing by Jerusalem is the same as swearing in God’s name because Jerusalem is “the city of the great King” (Psalm 48:3[2]). According to some opinions, an oath taken on one’s own life could be retracted. Yeshua said, “Nor shall you make an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black” (Matthew 5:36).

James the brother of the Master recapitulates, “But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath; but your yes is to be yes, and your no, no, so that you may not fall under judgment” (James 5:12).

Obviously some vows (i.e., marriage, nazirism) are necessary, and the Master’s prohibition should not be regarded as a ban on contracts or promises. Instead, His disciples are to be a people of such immense integrity that our simple ‘yes’ is equivalent to an oath taken in the name of God. We are to be a people of such integrity, that no further verification is needed from us other than a ‘yes’ or a ‘no.’ The sages agree with the Master’s teaching. According to rabbinic standards of the Master’s day, an emphatic ‘yes’ or an emphatic ‘no’ should be regarded as binding as an oath.

Rabbi Eleazar said, “‘No’ is an oath and ‘Yes’ is an oath.” (b.Shevu’ot 36a)

Rabbi Huna said in the name of Rabbi Shmuel ben Yitzchak, “The ‘Yes’ of the righteous is a yes, and the ‘No’ of the righteous is no.” (Ruth Rabbah 7:6)

Yeshua and Non-Violence

Do Yeshua's instructions about turning the other cheek and refusing to retaliate contradict the Torah's laws of retaliation?

Anxious man judged by different people. Concept of accusation and negative human emotions. (Image: © Bigstock)

Sometimes people think of the Law as a harsh standard that promoted eye-for-eye vendettas. According to this view, Yeshua came to replace the Torah’s spirit of retaliation and harsh judgment with a new rule of pacifism and non-violence:

But I say to you, do not resist an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. (Matthew 5:39)

When Yeshua told His disciples, “Whoever hits you on the cheek, offer him the other also” (Luke 6:29), He directed them to refrain from personal revenge and acts of retaliation; He did not prohibit them from acting in self-defense or the defense of others. He called His disciples to be merciful, forgiving, and long-suffering, but He did not call them to abandon protecting others or to submit willingly to brutality. Nor did He ask His disciples to receive blows without objecting. When the court officers in the house of Caiaphas smote Yeshua on the cheek, He protested the mistreatment, as did Paul when the high priest Ananias ordered him struck.

The blow to the cheek represents any insult, taunt, or public humiliation. According to the rabbis, striking a man on the cheek constituted a public shaming for which the rabbis imposed fines: two hundred zuz if a man struck another with his palm, four hundred zuz if he struck him with the back of his hand (m.Bava Kama 8:6).

Yeshua did not contradict the Torah. Instead, He upheld the Torah principle that says, “You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people” (Leviticus 19:18). Similarly, the Talmud says, “If your associate calls you a donkey, put a saddle on your back.” This saying is not to be taken literally; rather to accept the insult in love and forgive your fellow his blows.

If you are struck you must forgive the offender even though he does not ask for your forgiveness. (t.Bava Kama 9:8)

The Didache transmits Yeshua’s teaching as, “If one gives you a blow upon your right cheek, turn to him the other also; and then you shall be perfect” (Didache 1:4). Yeshua lived out His teaching, suffering many a blow and violent wounding, as the prophet Isaiah predicted, “I gave My back to those who strike Me, and My cheeks to those who pluck out the beard; I did not cover My face from humiliation and spitting” (Isaiah 50:6). “While being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously” (1 Peter 2:23).

Yeshua called His disciples to resist the urge to retaliate against insult and blow but instead to leave the matter in the hands of God. “Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written [in Deuteronomy 32:35], ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord” (Romans 12:19).

The Secret Messiah

Why did Yeshua warn His disciples against telling anyone that He was the Messiah?

 

Yeshua’s objective was not to declare his Messianic identity but …to avert the impending doom of judgment and bring about the promised kingdom.

When Yeshua asked His disciples, “Who do you say that I am?”, Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.” It was the correct answer, but Yeshua warned the disciples not to tell anyone that He was the Messiah. Why? Was that not that the whole point of His proclamation, “The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand”?

Yeshua’s objective was not to declare his Messianic identity but rather to persuade the people of his generation to repent. He wanted to avert the impending doom of judgment and bring about the promised kingdom. The conflicting messianic expectations of the Zealot movement threatened to compromise Yeshua’s mission. Contrary to popular expectation, His messianic mission did not entail a violent revolution or military plan for world conquest—not yet. Rather His path led “to Jerusalem,” where He would “suffer many things … be killed, and be raised up on the third day” (Matthew 16:21). Hitherto the Master had not revealed His coming suffering and death. From the point that His disciples explicitly acknowledged His identity as Messiah, He began to speak repeatedly of His destiny in Jerusalem.

He had come to the conclusion that, before the Messianic Era could commence, the Messiah must suffer and die on behalf of Israel. Previously, He spoke of this conviction only in veiled hints. Now “He was stating the matter plainly” (Mark 8:32). According to His understanding of the prophets, the Scriptures testified that the Messiah would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem (Luke 24:46-47). From where did He draw these conclusions?

Isaiah’s suffering servant song played an important role in the Master’s theology. The rabbis drew similar conclusions about the Messiah’s suffering from Isaiah 52-53. Moreover, Rabbi Yeshua apparently derived the prophecy of rejection at the hands of the religious leadership from Psalm 118:22 (the stone the builders rejected) and the prophecy of three days in the grave from Hosea 6:2 (He will raise us up on the third day).

If He openly declared Himself the Messiah, His arrest and crucifixion would come faster than He wanted. In order to carry out His strange goals according to His timetable, He needed to keep His true identity concealed.