Lesson 61 - Matthew 17 cont

[Music] last week we concluded our study of the opening portion of matthew chapter 17 that focused on the transfiguration now truly this nearly unfathomable event of an epiphany of moses and eliza elijah and jesus together is one of the most mysterious in the entire bible and what makes it all the more confounding is that the point of it just what it's meant to signify isn't stated now i can only assume that either the gospel writers didn't know the point because their sources didn't know or that it was assumed to be self-evident to believers in the first century so within the jewish context then what might the disciples have taken from this to briefly review my conclusion is that at least two different things were meant to be taken from the transfiguration perhaps even more one thing for certain death was a greatly feared thing because what happened afterward was an unsettled matter in the hebrew faith so the question of the possibility of life after death well this was an ongoing debate within the jewish religious leadership and therefore was also an unresolved matter within the minds of christ's disciples i imagine the appearance of the long ago departed moses and elijah would likely have provided a welcome hope for them that there must be life after death so the next question in their minds would have been how does one attain it now with it without insisting on which view is correct my own does differ from the traditional one within christianity that there is but a single point to this epiphany and it is to inform the disciples about something concerning yeshua the first point of the transfiguration then is that two different groups of people were meant to benefit from it the three disciples that were present as witnesses and the participation of moses and elijah themselves the disciples were intended to grasp that moses as representative of the law although probably the whole torah and elijah as representative of the prophets and yeshua as the god-man redeemer that moses and elijah pointed towards well they were all clearly linked and worked together and each are necessary milestones and participants in this long journey to redemption and restoration and while what moses and elijah did and said were prophetic and after a long wait currently be being fulfilled in jesus yet all remained alive and well and relevant relevant something christ made abundantly clear in the sermon on the mount admittedly this challenges the most predominant view of christianity whereby the single point of the event of these three figures appearing together was essentially a passing of the torch that is that the transfiguration signified that jesus was replacing moses and elijah therefore he was also superseding the law of moses now i maintain that nothing within that scenario implies or even hints of the transfiguration being a replacement ceremony i mean some commentators point to the fact that yeshua's face and clothes were glowing as the evidence that's their evidence that he was replacing elijah and moses well i say that of the three figures he's the only one that was divine so it's logical that his face and clothes would glow in such a way that indeed sets him apart as divine so in my view this idea of replacement well that's a much later christian church doctrine is being read back into the story now the second point of the transfiguration comes from christ's equally puzzling descent into the earth that would come before he ascended into heaven ephesians chapter 4 speaks of this now i interpret that event his dissent as something yeshua did in association with abraham's bosom a dwelling place for the departed souls of the righteous dead who died prior to the advent of the redeemer if i've been asked the question once i've been asked a hundred times what happened to the people of the old testament era who died what happened to them well jesus descended to announce to these souls that they were now redeemed to an elevated state of righteousness that now gave them access to heaven and so these long-time captives in abraham's bosom were set free seems to me that moses and elijah also had to be set free as elevated as their status was they were still strictly human beings weren't they born with that same sin nature as adam where they had been living in spirit so to speak during these many centuries that they had been gone is unclear they had been set apart from all other humans by the father and their departures were in mysterious circumstances i suspect that neither resided in abraham's bosom but of the two moses may have nonetheless since their eras of activity and of leaving this earth took place long before the advent of the redeemer jesus the messiah they just like the captive of abraham's bosom well they also had to be set free so god sent these two great icons of the hebrew faith before yeshua so that he could announce the end of their captivity as well or perhaps as an announcement of their redemption is also symbolized by the captives of abraham's bosom being released and so it was representative of what was soon to happen see moses and elijah seem to be the first of those departed from this earth and physical life to be set free to be redeemed only a little later after his death and resurrection will yeshua do the same for those thousands or millions perhaps of righteous souls that had remained safely for centuries in god's care and abraham's bosom might i have this right i'll ask yeshua when he comes back let's move on now to the next section of matthew chapter 17 we'll begin by reading the next few verses that tells the story so open your bibles to matthew chapter 17 we're going to read verses 14 through 21 matthew chapter 17 we're going to start reading at verse 14. please follow along with me as they came up to the crowd a man approached yeshua kneeled down in front of him and said sir have mercy on my son because he's an epileptic and has such terrible fits that he often falls into the fire or into the water i brought him to your talmudim his disciples but they couldn't heal him and yeshua answered perverted people without any trust how long will i be with you how long must i put up with you bring him here to me yeshua rebuked the demon and it came out of the boy so that from that moment he was healed now the story is of the healing of a young man that most bible scholars insist was not demon possessed rather he had epilepsy but what it all actually boils down to is this the matter of miracle healing no longer involves whether jesus will or he is able to heal anyone of anything that is now a given rather the matter is whether his disciples can as well that's the issue here the same story is told in the gospel of mark and because the best information is the most complete information we'll read mark to add to what matthew says so now just turn a few pages over to mark chapter 9 and we'll start reading also in verse 14 chapter 9 we're going to read starting at verse 14 and go all the way through 29. when they got back to the talmudim they saw a large crowd around them and some torah teachers arguing with them and as soon as the crowd saw him they were surprised and they ran out to greet him and he asked them what's this discussion about and one of the crowd gave the answer rabbi i brought my son to you because he has an evil spirit in him that makes him unable to talk whenever it sees him it throws it throws him to the ground he foams at the mouth he grinds his teeth he becomes stiff all over now i asked your talmudim your disciples to drive the spirit out but they couldn't do it people without any trust he responded how long will i be with you how long must i put up with you bring him to me they brought the boy to him and as soon as the spirit saw him it threw the boy into a convulsion yeshua asked the boy's father how long has this been happening to him ever since childhood he said and it often tries to kill him by throwing him into the fire into the water but if you can do anything have pity on us and help us yeshua said to him what do you mean if you can everything is possible to someone who has trust instantly the father of the child exclaimed i do trust help my lack of trust and when yeshua saw that the crowd was closing in on them he rebuked the unclean spirit saying to it you deaf and dumb spirit i command you come out of him never go back into him again shrieking and throwing the boy into a violent fit it came out the boy lay there like a corpse so that most of the people said he was dead but yeshua took him by the hand and raised him to his feet and he stood up after yeshua had gone indoors his disciples asked him privately why couldn't we drive it out and he said to them this is the kind of spirit that can only be driven out by prayer notice that mark's account of the healing is virtually twice the length as matthew's the answer to why that might be is an open question however some bible commentators think mark's gospel has been altered and lengthened by some later christian editors to make the focus of the story something more critical of jesus disciples that also implies a jewish inferiority upon these disciples of little faith who failed to be able to do what yeshua seems to be able or ishwar seems to to think they ought to be able to do by now heal people exercise demons my response is i just don't know if that's the case with mark or not there is simply no evidence for or against just the opinions of a number of number of uh bible scholars now each gospel writer tended to either be wordy more wordy or less wordy about a common event they all report on they also tended to highlight different aspects of any given event some gospel writers included things about yeshua that others chose not to and vice versa so i'm not inclined to read too much into the shorter version in matthew or in the longer version in mark i'm just going to leave it that by combining the information provided in these two accounts we get a more complete and well-rounded record of what occurred now having said that generally speaking it is hard to dispute that from the far view of the three synoptic gospels my reading is that marx is the least jewish oriented oriented and also the most harsh in the assessment of jews and judaism in general believers or otherwise matthews is the most jewish oriented of the gospel accounts and the least likely to point out the failures of the disciples or to assign too much blame to common jews who are naive about their own hebrew faith therefore they're easily misled and also don't understand yeshua who he is what he's about luke now he probably falls somewhere in the middle because this gentile believer went on the road with the jewish apostle paul to several gentile roman provinces visiting several synagogues and so no doubt gained insight and understanding of jewish culture and tradition and therefore of the jewish point of view so he displays an obvious level of sympathy and affinity for the jewish people even though it is presented from a predominantly gentile worldview now the opening words of yet another story of demon possession indicate that many of yeshua's disciples had gone with him to an area nearby wherever it was the transfiguration experience took place now having come down from that high place they almost immediately encounter a crowd and we find that jesus has become so well known that the crowds seek him or follow him no matter where he goes we need to notice that this unnamed father asks yeshua to heal his son of something that resembles epilepsy we see the crowds keep coming to christ for the same reason they always have for healing see they still view yeshua predominantly and primarily as a sodic a jewish miracle-working holy man we must not read the concept of salvation as we think of it today back into any of these stories of miracle working i point this out because when we read nearly every english bible version we'll find that they have the father saying to yeshua lord have pity on my son that is the word lord is capitalized capital l lord thus making it a title this capitalization is used by a translator to indicate when the person speaking that word means it and the religious spiritual sense that jesus is the divine savior and messiah the lord this is simply not the case there is no evidence in any of the gospel accounts to this point in yeshua's life that the crowds are approaching him with this meaning and understanding yeshua's life has just not revealed this publicly rather the complete jewish bible translation handles us the best when it says instead of lord it says sir sir that is the father is showing respect to jesus not the least of which reason that he wants something from him he holds yeshua in high regard but he also wants jesus to exercise this demon from his son it's interesting that the father calls his son a lunatic not demon possessed the greek word used as solomia zomai it literally means moonstruck but in modern english moonstruck means lunatic it was a superstition in that era that the moon the luna caused mental illnesses and abnormal behaviors a lot of policemen today said it still does the father goes on to say that his son's behavior is so crazy he'll even fall into fires or bodies of water that is he does things that can harm him now mark's gospel starts the story a bit differently he says that yeshua and his disciples came upon a crowd of people who were loudly debating with some scribes synagogue authorities about something and when the crowd noticed who it was that was approaching why several of them ran to yeshua and yeshua asked no one in particular what this noisy discussion was all about and a person answered this person was the father of a son that was suffering from demon possession mark continues with more or less the same description about what goes on with the boy that we find in matthew however he also adds that some of yeshua's disciples tried healing the boy but he couldn't back to matthew yeshua turns to his disciples he strongly rebukes them or at least that's the rather standard meaning assigned to yeshua's words but when we look more closely the greek has yeshua to say apistos kia diastrefo genia the complete or rather the king james version has the most literal translation that says faithless and perverse generation so unless he's calling only his disciples the faithless and perverse generation then he's using the term perverse generation as he has before it refers in general to all those jews living at that time that are blind to the signs of the latter days that john the baptist showed them and that yeshua's very presence is proof of in other words this harsh statement is directed at the entire crowd including those scribes and his own disciples everybody present and he again implies that the amount of time that he'll be around alive to be able to continue to heal and to restore people is limited so what happens when he's gone i have little doubt that similar words have been spoken by every frustrated mother and father to their children what are you going to do when i'm not around anymore the early church father chrysostom he saw it the same way well after those harsh words yeshua says to the distressed father bring him here to me the cure according to matthew was for yeshua to rebuke the demon in the boy he did the demon left and the boy was cured but mark takes this another direction mark is rereading some of it mark 9 20-27 they brought the boy to him and as soon as the spirit saw him it threw the boy into a convulsion yeshua asked the boy's father how long has this been happening to him ever since childhood he said and it often tries to kill him by throwing into the fire to the water but if you can do anything have pity on us and help us and yeshua yeshua said to him what do you mean if you can everything is possible to someone who has trust and initially the father of the child exclaimed i do trust help my lack of trust and when yeshua saw that the crowd was closing in on him he rebuked the unclean spirit saying to it you deaf and dumb spirit i command you come out of him never go back and do him again and shrieking and throwing the boy into a violent fit it came out the boy lay there like a corpse so that most people thought he was dead but yeshua took him by the hand raised him to his feet and he stood up so mark has yeshua continuing to rebuke the crowd including the father of the boy then we see this bit of a battle go on between yeshua and evil spirit that was possessing this boy it wasn't going to be easily defeated we even see doubt in the father that jesus can do this miracle and jesus then turning the tables about that doubt directed towards him towards the lack of trust and those who are asking for the miracle take note the tone of mark's narrative is really quite a different tone than in matthew matthew has this same man falling to his knees before jesus begging him to cure his son because others of christ's disciples couldn't there's no hint of disbelief or lack of trust in the father in mark the father admits to a lack of trust and even asked christ to help him with that problem nothing further said of it there is no aha moment of the father no hint that yeshua helped the father to have even greater trust even so yeshua went ahead with a successful exorcism so we're again faced with the question of what kind of trust yeshua is saying people must have in him what kind it's left unsaid trust that he is exotic that cannot fail it certainly cannot be trust in him as the divine messiah at least not now because he has told his disciples they're not to whisper a word of it to anyone perhaps it is meant in the sense that the jewish people are like peter to have such trust in his person that he is whatever he says he is at any given point in time and that he can do whatever it is he says he can do in any capacity whatsoever and in addition that this this trust it must be large enough that it never wavers and thus it responds properly to whatever he tells them to believe or to do no matter the circumstance i believe the trust he demands is in the same sense that he expected of peter well going back to matthew's much shorter version of the story in verse 19 the disciples asked yeshua the reason that they couldn't heal this boy of his problem and yeshua responds as he has on numerous occasions regarding the condition of his own disciples they have a little faith so while in mark's gospel yeshua is telling the crowd and the father that it is their lack of trust that stymied the disciples from healing the boy in matthew yeshua was pinning it only on his disciples in verse 20 yes jesus resurrects his previous use of the mustard seed metaphor and parable and he tells the disciples that if their faith and trust were even that tiny they could move mountains now folks this is an expression it's not to be taken literally it is also not a parable it's important got no kind of literature we're speaking about this is not a parable so it can have more than one facet to its meaning let's also recall that yeshua never moved massive geographic features that we're aware of so such thing is not in our future either no matter how much our level of trust in him see his illustration is a memorable exaggeration that contrasts a mustard seed that is a tiny tiny physical object with a mountain that is the largest physical object while not a parable certainly the idea of moving a mountain does take the form of a proverb and from that standpoint the idea of moving a mountain means to do the unlikely or from a human view to do the impossible as davies and allison say a literal interpretation of this is ludicrous so we can discard that as a possibility this no doubt the point is a small amount of trust can do big and improbable things therefore it is inherently implied that a great amount of trust can do the impossible things impossible from an apparent or an earthly standpoint it is simply an encouragement it's a call from christ to trust him fully now here when we set various english bible versions side by side we run into an issue that i think goes well beyond trivial nuance it's this depending on your bible version you're going to see some combination or use of the words trust faith and belief trust faith and belief and it seems that these words are meant to denote slightly different things and yet in the greek they all stem from the same word in its various grammatical forms and thus also stem from the same concept i think that the complete jewish bible has it most correctly rendered by choosing the word trust to get what christ is saying why is that it is because of what those words trust faith and belief mean in modern english how are they used today today words have meaning but it depends heavily on the era and the culture to define that meaning in modern english cultures of the west there are important differences between the meanings of trust faith and belief even at first glance we haven't really thought about it perhaps a few hundred years ago in european english speaking societies these three words meant something different even so whatever mental picture we draw today with the use of each of those words that's what matters in order to correctly communicate the intended message now since the greek is essentially the same for those three words let's talk about what each of them means today to us today and we're going to begin with the word trust for us to trust is a positive term that means to firmly depend on something with conviction without reservation that's trust failure or error is not conceivable trust especially from the biblical viewpoint also revolves around morality it is a thought of something that i can depend upon that is true and right regardless of world conditions or as history progresses and what i trust in will not fail me i can say that trust for example that i trust that the sun will rise each day just as it always has there's no doubt about it yet there's no moral element to it so this is not as much trust as it is belief okay belief to believe is a conscious intellectual decision to acknowledge that something is as we perceive it to be or merely that it exists now faith faith is an overriding hope and someone or something and it can or cannot include a moral element so back to the top of our list of words to trust in yeshua means to depend on him and the morality he prescribes without reservation trust cannot incorporate or tolerate the i the idea of doubt nor does trust allow for alternatives doubt and trust especially as it comes to spiritual trust are very nearly opposites to say one believes in yeshua means to acknowledge that he existed islam believes that yeshua existed some muslims i have met have respect for him they have respect for the lifestyle he preached but they don't trust in him they don't depend upon him without reservation in fact they worship another god and another religion they rely on another indifferent holy book another example a belief i can believe that a chair exists that it's present and is something that is designed for me to sit upon but i don't put my trust in it on a moral or an absolute level i don't make an intellectual decision that even involves has some involvement of my soul to depend on a chair without reservation we know that it could fail us even though it might be rare but if it did outside of our surprise we wouldn't have a loss of belief in the existence of chairs and the purpose of chairs now faith faith is a hope that something so faith doesn't have to have an inherent moral element but hope and thus faith does incorporate and tolerate doubt i can have hope faith it's going to rain yet also legitimately harbor an equal amount of doubt it won't faith is the hope of something as yet unrealized but in the way we think about it it may never be realized i can have faith that mankind is inherently good even if the evidence shows otherwise and that mankind's goodness is the path that will eventually lead the human race to a better world i can hope in science as our deliverer from all our earthbound problems that plague us even though it certainly hasn't delivered and solved all things thus far and there is no firm evidence that ever well in fact it was science that brought us the ultra-destructive atomic bomb the hope the faith we have in science or what it currently says is fact regularly turns out to be incorrect it has to be revised so that we hope now and something else faith hope allows room that we can switch our hope to something else if we need to trust does not so trust that fails us it's not merely disappointing it's soul destroy now while you might not agree with all my definitions and examples the point is that these are what these words predominantly mean in the 21st century in the western culture thus what we have to be very careful about is what english words a bible translator assigns to what yeshua or the gospel writer meant and therefore what he requires of us to be his disciples therefore when we look at the greek pistes on all of its variations the best english word to get across that proper meaning every time is trust trust yeshua says we're to trust him we are to depend on him without reservation or in regards to the circumstances this of course is the ideal isn't it be perfect even as i am perfect says the lord i dare say no one will ever be perfect or have perfect trust in god the book of revelation reveals that even many people that will be allowed into the millennial kingdom will not have perfect trust some will fail so badly that they will not live in eternity with god this fullness of trust this ideal trust will not come until the arrival of the new earth and heavens but it is what we are to strive for that's our goal with yeshua as the object of our trust and the ideal of what it looks like now verse 21 verse 21 is not even present in all the ancient greek manuscripts and the complete jewish bible doesn't use it even though most english bibles do it is therefore thought that because matthew didn't use some words that mark thought was important a later christian editor added them and in mark 29 he says he said to them this is the kind of spirit that can only be that can be driven out only by prayer now whether this was an authentic saying of christ or not it is framed as having been said in response to yeshua's disciples as a sort of of uh instruction from him to answer the question of how one can get rid of this particular kind of evil spirit the one who wasn't willing to go without a fight however the way it has been inserted into matthew's gospel it is framed as a continuing saying of jesus over the issue of the volume of trust one must have so it has been slightly modified to fit each scenario an original statement by christ or not isn't a terribly important issue here in the end what it says is true we can never attain the high level of trust in yeshua that we need without prayer and fasting that is we must make an effort an effort we have to take personal action we have to beseech the father in prayer not just passively wait on him to decide one day to give us a greater trust now verses 22 and 23 these are sometimes said to be misplaced and so they too must be a later edition by some christian editors let's read just those two verses or i'll read them to you whatever you want matthew 17 22 and 23 matthew 17 verses 22 and 23. as they were going about together in the galil galilee yeshua said to them the son of man is about to be betrayed into the hands of the people who will put him to death and on the third day he will be raised and they were filled with sadness now perhaps these few words represent the work of a later editor although i can easily see how this plays directly into what yeshua said that is recorded not in matthew but in mark and how jesus will not always be with them on the other hand matthew moves the location entirely to the familiar area of the galilee so in matthew's gospel doesn't seem to be more words about his own demise as it appears like that in mark 9 rather in matthew it's a another scenario altogether why another statement about his impending death when he's already made it clear enough such that peter got himself into some hot water over disputing it because it adds an important piece of information says yeshua's execution will be precipitated by an element of betrayal thus the reason for the disciples sadness is not only that he's soon going to die it's also the gut-wrenching circumstance that puts him into the hands of those who mean him harm see what we what must also be noticed is that the means of his execution has yet to be mentioned the disciples certainly could have thought of stoning because that's the way the sanhedrin dealt with the jew guilty of religious matter even though technically rome had outlawed it so crucifixion is still not on the table although because crucifixion was the usual method of execution used by the romans for jewish criminals that too would have been easily imaginable by the twelve as the method of christ's death yeshua of course reminds his disciples that he's going to rise from the dead after three days now this fact does not seem to have cheered them up and largely for the reasons we've discussed before see resurrection had a number of meanings in the first century and which one their master was predicting for himself well that was quite unclear but no matter which it might be first he had to die and from every angle a common jew would think about it the prophesied messiah should not be dying he should be killing other people freeing his countrymen that's how it was supposed to work and they were going to have to rethink this whole messiah thing and what jesus's resurrection promise meant let's move on to the final story of matthew 17. let's read matthew 17 verses 24-27 verses 24-27 when they came to kefar nahum capernaum the collectors of the half shekel came to kefa and said that's peter doesn't your rabbi pay the temple tax well of course he does says keva and when he arrived home yeshua spoke first shimon that's also peter what's your opinion the kings of the earth from whom do they collect duties and taxes from their sons or from others or from others he answered then said yeshua the sons are exempt but to avoid offending them go to the lake throw out a line take the first fish you catch open its mouth you'll find a shekel take it and give it to them for me and for you this story is about the temple tax and whether or not the disciples should pay it see this means that it took place very likely in march the hebrew month of adar which is not long before passover that's because this was the traditional time that the temple tax of two roman drachmas was paid according to josephus and philo more or less backs it up and adds in that all jewish adults over the age of 20 were to pay it now the temple tax story appears only in matthew likely because matthew himself was a jew and so the issue of paying the temple tax well that was important to him he was also a believer so what yeshua had to say about the matter would have been his guide and the one he thinks all jews ought to follow so yeshua and his disciples are now back in capernaum capernaum where jesus was staying probably with peter's family there the representatives of the temple come to the disciples and ask why their master doesn't pay the temple tax now peter as always jumps into the fray and answers oh of course he does one would have to ask why the tax collectors would even ask such a question well it's no the galileans were none too keen to pay that tax they considered those who ran the temple as illegitimate and corrupt which they were the bulk of the money given simply found its way into the pockets of the high priest and his family now notice that the words of verse 25 say that when peter got home yeshua spoke first more or less cementing that yeshua was still residing with peter and jesus opens up what is essentially a discussion in jewish parliaments of midrash about who among the jews ought to and ought not to pay the temple tax the first person he addresses is the one who spoke for jesus and had said about him paying the tax of course he does yeshua frames his question this way in verse 25 the kings of the earth from whom do they collect duties and taxes from their sons or from others peter responds from others so says yeshua the sons are exempt now please notice that i said this is about the temple tax but that's actually an assumption the words temple tax that we find in the complete jewish bible and many maybe most other english bibles are not actually there in the greek that too is an assumption you see on the part of the translators the predominance of bible commentators assume it is a temple tax that's in question but there are others that do not they think this is some kind of a roman taxation there have been quite a number of points put forward to bolster each position none of them very conclusive in my opinion now part of the reason i lean i think fairly heavily towards this being the temple tax is that historians say that two roman drachmas were the equivalent of a half shekel and a half shekel was the annual contribution all jews were expected to make to support the temple the coincidence is just too large to overlook i think we'll stop here and we'll finish up next week a story that has a number of ramifications for us all [Music] so [Music] you

Channel: Torah Class

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Keywords: Parables, Beatitudes, Sermon on the Mount, Jews, Christianity, Christian, Hebrew Heritage, Hebrew Roots, Bible Study, Bible, Yeshua, Son of God, God, Jesus, Christ, Seed of Abraham, Torah Class, New Testament, Matthew, Tom Bradford

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Length: 53min 51sec (3231 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 02 2021