The Preparation for the Death of King Messiah

This begins that last major section before the death and resurrection of Christ. Everything up to now has been prologue, introduction to the great conclusion, which focuses on the cross of Yeshua ha-Mashiach.

On Wednesday the thirteenth of Nisan, the Pharisees had finished their examination of Jesus and from that day on no one dared to ask Him any more questions. Christ pronounced seven woes on the Torah-teachers and Pharisees, so they schemed to arrest and kill Him. Later that day Yeshua commented on the widow’s offering before He and His twelve apostles left Jerusalem. As they were returning to Bethany, Messiah and His talmidim paused on the Mount of Olives and viewed the Temple. There He answered three questions and taught them about His Second Coming.

After sundown on Thursday the fourteenth of Nisan Jesus was invited to the home of Simon, the leper, for dinner. There, Mary, the sister of Lazarus, anointed Him with expensive perfume for burial. It was then that the Lord rebuked Judas for wanting to sell the expensive perfume made of pure nard so the money could be given to the poor. Then Judas left Bethany, walked to the palace of Caiaphas the high priest in the City of David and agreed to betray the Son of God.

As the sun went down, Thursday turned to Friday the fifteenth of Nisan and the Passover Seder was celebrated in the Upper Room. Late that evening, all during the night, and early into the day, the history of mankind changed forever. Jesus agonized at Gethsemane, was betrayed by Judas, arrested and tried by both the Jews and the Romans.

The Widow’s Offering
Mark 12:41-44 and Luke 21:1-4
Wednesday the thirteenth of Nisan

The widow’s offering DIG: How many trumpets were there in the Court of the Women? What was their purpose? What was “the chamber of the silent?” How does the poor widow differ from the rich who gave out of their wealth? What is Messiah’s point in making this contrast? When is “more” actually “less?” When is a “little” a “lot?”

REFLECT: Why do you give your money to God’s work? What do you give besides money? Have you ever given to a ministry or to a needy person without them knowing who donated the money? How did it make you feel? How do you think the Lord feels about your giving? For seven principles of scriptural giving click the link Do –When You Give to the Needy Do Not Do It to be Honored by Others.

It was Wednesday, the thirteenth of Nisan (to see link click Ix – The Examination of the Lamb) during Pesach and Christ’s teaching in the Court of the Gentiles had ended. He and His talmidim walked through the Beautiful Gate into the Court of the Women. This inner area of the Temple compound was open to both men and women. Certainly, it was the common place for worship for everyone and functioned to a certain extent as a Temple synagogue in the open air. It was a large area that covered 70.87 by 70.87 meters, 5,023 square meters, or 16,475 square feet.¹³¹³ And along the back wall next to the steps leading up to the Nicanor Gate there were positioned 13 chests (shopharoth) for offerings called the Treasury. These chests were called shophars in the Talmud because they were narrow at the mouth and wide at the bottom, and therefore each looked like a trumpet. Each was specifically marked. Eight were the receipt of what was legally due by worshippers, the other five, however, were strictly for voluntary gifts.

Each shophar was marked for a specific purpose. Trumpets 1 and 2 were designated for the Temple tax for the current or past year. Those women who were so poor that they could only afford young pigeons for a burnt or sin offering dropped their money in shophars 3 and 4, which was used to purchase and sacrifice the corresponding number of birds for that day. When the baby Jesus was presented at the Temple, this was where Mary would have placed her offering (Luke 2:24). In shophar 5 the contributions for the wood used in the Temple were placed, in trumpet 6 for the incense, and in trumpet 7 for the golden plates, spoons, and containers for the ministry were deposited. If a person had put aside a certain sum for a sin offering, and any money was left over after its purchase, it was deposited into shophar 8. Likewise, trumpets 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13 were designated for what was left over from the sin offerings (see my commentary on Exodus Fc – The Sin Offering), the offering of the Nazarite, of the cleansed leper (although it was never used until Messiah’s day, see Cn – The First Messianic Miracle: The Healing of a Jewish Leper), and voluntary offerings. On the occasion such as the Passover season, it was customary for the people to make voluntary offerings to show their devotion to the Temple.

There was a special chamber within the Treasury that was called the chamber of the silent. There, devout people could give their money in secret, afterwards used for educating children and assistance for the needy. But “the chamber of the silent” was also for those needy who were embarrassed that they needed assistance and they also would go there to get help but no one would know their identity.¹³¹⁴

Yeshua sat down quietly on a bench opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the Temple treasury. He could distinguish the contributions of the rich who gave out of their wealth, from that of the poor who gave out of their poverty. Suddenly His gaze was riveted on a solitary figure, a poor widow. We can see her coming alone, as if ashamed to mingle with the crowd of rich givers; ashamed to have her offering seen; ashamed, perhaps, to bring it. She was a widow dressed in the clothing of a forsaken mourner. The Great Rabbi observed her closely and read her correctly. She held in her hand two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents. The Greek word poor is ptochos, and is used to designate a pauper rather than a mere peasant. The emphatic position of the word poor in the Greek text speaks to the fact that she was poverty-stricken, shown by her dress and disheveled look. The two small copper coins, or two lepta were each the smallest copper coin in circulation at that time. Sixty-four of them equaled a denarius, which was a day’s wages for a common laborer.¹³¹⁵ The rabbis taught that an offering of less than two lepta was not acceptable for voluntary offerings. So she put the bare minimum into the appropriate trumpet (Mark 12:41a and 42; Luke 21:1a and 21:2).

The gifts of the wealthy brought no comment from Jesus, for He knew the hypocrisy in their giving. They were giving to be honored by others. Such gifts were unacceptable to God. Many rich people threw in large amounts (Mark 12:41b; Luke 21:1b). Earlier (see Da – The Sermon on the Mount) Yeshua had said: So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with shophars, as the hypocrites do . . . to be honored by others (Matthew 6:2a). This was probably an ironic allusion to the trumpets in the Court of the Women. The use of the word trumpet, described the conduct of those who in their giving, they sought glory from the Jewish community as a sounding shophar before them.

Christ’s apostles were not sitting with Him so He called them to Him. The lesson He wanted to teach them was important enough for them to see for themselves as well as to hear about it later. He said: Truly I tell you, from God’s perspective this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything she had to live on (Mark 12:43-44; Luke 21:3-4). The widow put more into the treasury than all the wealthy in the sense that relative to their respective means, her gift was far greater. The wealthy had their wealth to provide for them in the days ahead; the widow only had her faith to sustain her. She put in everything she had to live on. Her trust must be in ADONAI. When YHVH has our hearts, giving is not a burden, but a joy. It’s not so much how much we give to God, but how much we withhold for ourselves that He is concerned about.¹³¹⁶

In 1915 Pastor William Barton started to publish a series articles. Using the archaic language of an ancient storyteller, he wrote his parables under the pen name of Safed the Sage. And for the next fifteen years he shared the wisdom of Safed and his enduring spouse Keturah. It was a genre he enjoyed. By the early 1920s, Safed was said to have a following of at least three million. Turning an ordinary event into an illustration of a spiritual truth was always a keynote of Barton’s ministry.

I was putting on my Winter Coat, and going to a Committee Meeting. And I was late. And Keturah said to me, Go thou by the way of the house of our Daughter, and give unto her this Package, and speak unto her such and such Messages, and then go to your Committee Meeting.

And I did even as she said unto me. But I was in haste and I tarried not long, nor sat down.

And as I hastened away, I heard a great Cry, and I turned back to see if the daughter of the daughter of Keturah had broken her Neck. And she had not broken her Neck, but I had broken her Heart.

And I asked, What is the matter with my little girl?

And she sobbed and she answered, Grandpa hardly spoke to me. Am I so little he does not care for me?

Now when I heard this I was smitten to mine heart, for it had been even as she said. And the little maiden is unto me as the Apple of mine Eye. But I had been in a Hurry, for there was a Committee Meeting, and I was late.

And I entered the House, and I took her into mine arms, and I sat in a Chair with the little maiden in my lap, and with her Golden Hair upon my Shoulder, and I said, Let the Committee Meeting go hang.

And she said, Do you love me, Grandpa, even if I am small?

And I said, My dear, I love thee as much as if thou were an Elephant in the Circus, and maybe more. Yea, I do not think it would be possible for a Grandpa to love a little damsel more than I love thee.

And she put her arms around my neck, and the Committee Meeting just had to mosey along as best it could till I got there.

Now after a while she got down, and we bade each other a Happy Good-bye, and I went my way. And as I went, I thought of the children of God who sometimes get to feeling just the same way, and thinking that their Heavenly Father doth not care for them because they are so Little, and He is busy with Great Things.

And I prayed unto my God on behalf of all such Heart-Broken children of His, that He will gather them in His arms, and comfort them, and tell them to cast all their care upon Him, for it Matters to Him concerning them.¹³¹⁷

Seven Woes on the Torah-Teachers and the Pharisees
Matthew 23:1-39; Mark 12:38-40; Luke 20:45-47
Wednesday the thirteenth of Nisan

Seven woes on the Torah-Teachers and the Pharisees DIG: How would you recognize these Torah-Teachers and Pharisees walking down the street? How did they stumble common people? How did they pray? What was the problem with their phylacteries? What was the root of their sin? In what sense were these woes curses? Can you summarize each woe? Were the seven woes directed at all Israelites? What is the context? How and when was their house left desolate?

REFLECT: A haughty attitude can nullify any ministry that we might have, either inside or outside your place of worship. What’s your attitude been like lately? Is it hindering or enhancing your bridge to others? Are you making your relationship with God more complicated than it needs to be? Are you consistently speaking words that are true and bring the blessings of ADONAI to those around us? Even while admitting our imperfections, is your inner life basically consistent with your outer behavior? Are you merely concerned with the letter of the Torah, or are you also focused on the spiritual intent of the Torah? How? 

Because the apostate religious leaders recognized that Messiah’s answers were so convincing that many were believing in Him, no one dared to ask Him any more questions (Mattityahu 22:46; Mark 34b and 37).

This is Christ’s last public proclamation. After this He will be alone with His apostles and the cross. Here, Messiah talks to His talmidim and the masses about the Jewish religious leaders, giving a strong, straightforward teaching to those who knowingly rejected Him. Since this teaching takes place close to His last Passover, it represents the Lord’s final indictment against some of the dysfunctional and contrary attitudes of some Torah-teachers and Pharisees. There would not be many questions but an avalanche of observations from One who can see the hearts of mankind. The renegade Rabbi went on the offensive.

Then Jesus said to the crowds in the Court of the Gentiles with His apostles also listening: Beware of the Torah-teachers. They and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. In the first-century synagogue there was a visible place of honor called the seat of Moses where the rabbi would teach from the Torah. So they should have commanded a certain amount of respect and attention. Somewhat surprisingly, Yeshua affirms you must be careful to do everything they tell you. That was to be expected and was commonly understood; however, He added an important forewarning. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach (Matthew 23:1-3). Therefore, Jesus declared that they were hypocrites.

This verse must be the lens through which the following teaching is understood. The manner in which Yeshua addressed many of the traditional customs in the following verses has led some critics to conclude that He was attacking Judaism itself. But we must remember that He told the people you must be careful to do everything the Torah-teachers and the Pharisees accurately tell you to do. Obviously, the main problem addressed in this section is not any particular Jewish custom per se, but the hypocritical attitude of the spiritual leaders of Isra’el. We have seen, in fact that Messiah observed some of the very customs that He addressed, like wearing the fringes. This section is not a wholesale condemnation of every Torah-teacher or Pharisee. Many were very sincere and some of them, like Nicodemus (John 3), even became believers!

Unfortunately, the vast majority were wicked. In a strong rabbinic hyperbole, He paints a picture of the common Jew being burdened by a huge load, while the religious leaders merely stood by and watched. He said: They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them (Mattityahu 23:4). They made the Oral Law (to see link click Ei – The Oral Law) a burden to others while finding ways to get around it themselves.

Yeshua continued to expose them. They were self-righteous and self-seeking. Their very dress separated them from all others. Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries, or tephillin, wide and the tassels on their garments long (Matthew 23:5). This was the ancient custom of wearing leather boxes on both the arm and forehead to fulfill the biblical commandment of the Sh’ma passage in Deuteronomy 6:4-9. Within the leather boxes, tiny handwritten parchments with the Sh’ma passage and other parallel verses (Deuteronomy 11:13-21; Exodus 13:1-16). Israelites were directed to remember the commandments of the Torah by tying them in this way as a sign. Like everything else, the Pharisees problem was pride in making their phylacteries bigger than necessary and their tassels longer than necessary to show how spiritual they were.¹³⁰⁰

It would be impossible to exaggerate the importance of the tephillin to the Pharisees. They were revered more highly than the Scriptures. The rabbis taught that it was more punishable to act against the Oral Law than against the Scripture. They said if a man were to say, “There is no such thing as tephillin,” thereby acting contrary to the words of Scripture, he is not to be treated as a rebel. But if he should say, “There are five divisions in the tephillin (instead of four in those for the forehead, as the rabbis taught), in order to adding to the words of the Torah-Teachers, he is guilty” (Tractate Sanhedrin 11.3). So with regard to the Pharisees, Jesus said: They worship Me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules. And to them directly He warned: You have let go of the commands of God and are holding to the traditions of men (Mark 7:7-8).

The rabbis also taught that Moshe had received instruction concerning them from YHVH on Mount Sinai. They said that their phylacteries were more sacred than the golden plate on the forehead of the high priest, since the name of ADONAI was written only once, while the writing inside the tephillin, The Name was written twenty-three times. In fact, they believed that the promised Messiah would wear tephillin.¹³⁰¹

The Pharisees would show their true colors by seeking public recognition and acclaim. They love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats, benches up front facing the congregation, in the synagogues; they love to walk around in flowing robes and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others (Matthew 23:6-7; Mark 12:38-39). There’s nothing wrong with the term rabbi, pastor, or priest for that matter. Rabbi simply means teacher, and those leaders were the designated rabbis of the community. The problem was that they loved such greetings and titles.

It was easy to see how they might have been elevated, in their own eyes and the eyes of the Jewish community, beyond what Ha’Shem or the Torah intended. The mere knowledge of the Torah became an end to itself. In this respect the testimonies of Onkelos, in his rendering of the oldest Targumim, or pharisaic commentaries of the Mishnah, and the two Talmuds, testified to the importance of the rabbi in Jewish culture. It is said that there was a discussion in the “academy of heaven,” when El-Shaddi and His angels had different opinions in regard to a special point in the Torah. So a rabbi, famed for his knowledge of that subject was summoned up by the angel of death to decide the matter between them! Without going into the details, it’s clear that the rabbi enjoyed such an exalted position that it was assumed that a teacher was to be cared for before one’s father. The thought: We owed only our existence in this world to the latter, but to the former the life in the world to come (Tractate Bab. Mez. 2.11).¹³⁰²

But that kind of power went to their heads and they felt justified in devouring widows’ houses (Mark 12:40a). People often left their entire fortunes to the Temple, and a good part of the money went to the Torah-Teachers and the Pharisees. This is how their scheme worked. The Pharisees convinced widows to give their houses to the Temple, and then took the proceeds of the sale for themselves with a healthy share going to the Torah-Teachers who were employed to write out wills and conveyances of property. Quite a racket. In order to close the sale, the Pharisees offered lengthy prayers in the houses of the widows and for them. Consequently, they bent the widows to their will. Our Lord calls these prayers pure deception. How could they be true prayers when offered as a means of committing crimes against those who Ha’Shem commanded them to protect (Psalm 68:6 and 146:9; Jer 7:6; Zech 7:10; Malachi 3:5)?¹³⁰³

And for a show make lengthy prayers (Mark 12:40b). There was no difficulty in recognizing such a one. Walking behind him in public, chances were very good that he would soon stop to say his prescribed prayers. If the fixed time for them had come, he would stop abruptly in the middle of the road, perhaps say one section of them, move on, stop, say another part, and so on. He left no doubt on anyone’s mind in the market place or on the street corners, that he was very, very spiritual. There he would stand, draw his feet together, compose his body and clothes, then the world around him stopped. The workman would drop his tools, the laborer his load, if a man already had one foot in the stirrup, he would withdraw it. The time for his prayers had come, and nothing could interrupt or disturb him. It was understood by all that the very greeting of a king, or the twisting of a snake around one’s leg must be disregarded until his prayers were finished. On entering a village, and again on leaving it, he needed to say one or two prayers. The same in passing through a fortress, in encountering any danger, in meeting with anything new, strange, beautiful or unexpected. And the longer he prayed the better. Each prayer mentioned and closed with a blessing of the divine Name, blessed be He. And the more he prayed the better. The Pharisees said there was special religious merit to be gained from this, and a hundred prayers said in one day was supposed to be the measure of great piety.¹³⁰⁴

While all the people were listening, Jesus turned to His twelve talmidim and said: These men will be punished most severely (Mark 12:40c and Luke 20:45-47). Prayer is always good. Even praying with zeal. But their actions didn’t match up with what the Torah demanded: Cursed is anyone who withholds justice from the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow (Deuteronomy 27:19). They were putting up a façade of spirituality and Yeshua held them accountable. Some had even used lengthy prayers as a means of profiting financially from the sales of widow’s houses, as if devouring them.

The entire context of this section is about bad attitudes and the abuse of titles. But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers. With all due respect to earthly leaders, we ultimately have only one true Father in heaven. And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and He is in heaven. Nor are you to be called leaders, for you have one Leader, the Messiah (Matthew 23:8-10). Yes, there is a proper place for spiritual leaders and even for the use of the terms honor and respect, but arrogance must be guarded against.

There are some who position themselves between you and ADONAI. There are some who suggest the only way to get to the Lord is through them. Some Bible teachers believe that they have the final say on the Word of God. There is the earthly father whom you seek approval. There is the spiritual master who will tell you what YHVH wants you to do. Jesus’ message for all of this is to remove the middlemen. You have one Leader, the Messiah.

He’s not saying that you don’t need teachers, elders, or counselors. He is saying, however, that we are all brothers and sisters and have equal access to the Father. Simplify your faith by seeking God for yourself. No confusing ceremonies necessary. No mysterious rituals required. No elaborate channels of command or levels of access.

You have a Bible? You can study.

A heart? You can pray.

You have a mind? You can think.¹³⁰⁵

Those who are true disciples of Christ will prove their leadership abilities by serving others. The greatest among you will be your servant. Yeshua assures the crowd that whoever exalts themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted (Mattityahu 23:11-12). How contradictory to the belief system of the world. It is not enough to merely observe religious custom. We need to listen the still small voice of the Ruach ha-Kodesh, and the words of Jesus to examine our attitudes as well.

Then Jesus then turned His attention directly to the Pharisees themselves. Yeshua prefaces each of His seven rebukes with an emotional woe (literally, oy in Hebrew). They were curses in the sense that they were solemn warnings, as the expression of sorrow for their fate. Without their repentance, God’s judgment would be the inevitable consequence for each one of them. These woes are directed to a limited group in the immediate context (There were obviously some sincere, godly Pharisees among the hypocritical). In addition, we must view the Messiah here, in the same way that we view the prophets of Isra’el, speaking as a concerned Jew to fellow Jews, not as an outsider with an anti-Jewish grudge.¹³⁰⁶

1. Woe to you, Torah-teachers and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of Heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to (Matthew 23:13-14). Jesus said just the opposite as He emphasized the simplicity of coming into the Kingdom, even stating that we must become like little children (see Gg – The Greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven). Those counterfeit teachers had polluted the pure message of the TaNaKh.

2. Woe to you, Torah-teachers and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert. This may sound strange to us today because Jews do not normally proselytize. But there is no doubt that the Judaism of the Second Temple period had an aggressive outreach campaign as part of the call to be a light to the Gentile Nations (Isaiah 49:6). In addition to the number of Gentiles converted during the time when Rome ruled the world, we can add the Edomites. They were forcibly converted in the first century. This was the home community of the notorious Roman convert by the name of Herod the Great. He was therefore the ideal choice of the Romans for a leader who could supposedly relate to the Jewish community. But the Pharisees did not merely succeed in making converts to Judaism. No, they went further than that and also made them converts to the Oral Law, which actually led people away from the purity of the Torah. So in the strongest terms, Messiah warned them that such converts were twice as fit for Gei-Hinnom as they themselves were (Mattityahu 23:15).¹³⁰⁷

3. Woe to you. In highly ironic language, Jesus called them blind guides! Those who prided themselves in being spiritual guides to the common people were, in fact, spiritually blind. Christ gave several real life examples of their groping around in the dark. The practice of taking an oath was very common in the first century. In fact, it is so important that an entire Tractate of the Talmud is devoted to the details of taking an oath (Tractate Shevout). There is nothing inherently wrong with taking an oath. It was a common practice and could be beneficial in establishing an agreement. If anyone needed to validate their promises, they could swear by something or someone greater than themselves. In this case, some of the Pharisees solidified their word by swearing by the Temple. This was a strong oath, but there was a way to get around it. You say, “If anyone swears by the Temple, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gold of the Temple is bound to fulfill that oath” (Matthew 23:16). They were always looking to gain an advantage for themselves.

These were mere word games, and Yeshua rebuked such absurdity as coming from blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the Temple that makes the gold sacred? In the same way, you also say, “If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gift on the altar is bound by that oath.” The whole twisted logic was both theologically and logically preposterous. You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred (Matthew 23:17-19)? It makes no sense that the offering is regarded as more important than the holy altar on which it is presented.

The Lord went on to point out, to swear by the altar was to swear by everything on it. To swear by the Temple was to swear by the One who dwells in it, namely ADONAI Himself. And to swear in the name of heaven, was to swear by God’s throne and by the One who sits on it. In fact, since God is the Creator of everything, to swear by anything at all involves Ha’Shem (Mattityahu 23:20-22).¹³⁰⁸

4. Woe to you, Torah-teachers and Pharisees, you hypocrites! Next, Messiah exposes some of their misplaced priorities. It was so important that an entire tractate of the Talmud is devoted to such details (Tractate Ma’aser). The title Ma’aser is reflected by the word tenth, so the amount cannot be questioned. The Israelites were required to give ten percent their earnings to the worship of YHVH and the upkeep of the Temple. The Pharisees strongly believed in and applied the entire Torah; therefore, it was not surprising that they were known for their meticulous tithing (Genesis 14:18-20; Deuteronomy 14:22-29). They even tithed right down to the smallest spices. You give a tenth of your spices – mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the Torah – justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. In the last analysis, what good is it if we keep track of the small stuff if we neglect the big stuff? You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel (Matthew 23:23-24). Because insects were not kosher, they strained their soup to make sure it was pure. But for the main course they dined on the equally unkosher camel! The warning was clear: Don’t get sidetracked by the lesser important commandments to the neglect the more important ones.¹³⁰⁹

5. Woe to you, Torah-teachers and Pharisees, you hypocrites! They were overly concerned with external appearances. While keeping a kosher kitchen, they were quite careful. You clean the outside of the cup and dish. The word kosher itself implies cleanliness, both ritually and literally. This was so important that there is an entire tractate dedicated to utensils and dietary laws (Tractate Kelim). They kept a kosher kitchen, but unkosher actions had crept inside their lives. They are full of greed and self-indulgence. The obvious violations of the spirit of the Torah lead Christ to call such a one a blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean (Mattityahu 23:25-26).

6. Woe to you, Torah-teachers and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs. Continuing with the same theme, the Lord switched the illustration from the kitchen to the cemetery. Whitewashing was common in Isra’el around the Passover when this dialogue took place. Pesach and the feast of Unleavened Bread is a time when great emphasis is placed on cleaning (Exodus 12:1-30). The home must be thoroughly cleansed of all leaven and replaced with kosher products. Utensils are either switched or boiled to be made kosher. In order not to compromise the ritual purity of the season, it was especially important to take care of any areas that might be a problem. A cemetery was a good example. As unlikely as it might be, if someone accidently brushed up against a tomb it would make them ritually unclean because of the dead body inside. To avoid this possibility, it was customary to clearly mark all tombs with a fresh coat of whitewash. There was nothing sinful with their attempt to be careful not to defile themselves. But then Messiah pointed out a problem, as He described most of the Pharisees with an analogy. They looked beautiful on the outside but on the inside they were full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. Recognizable by their very garb, eighteen garments were supposed to complete his elegant attire. The material, the color and the cut distinguished the wearer. But, the appearance on the outside was much different that the spiritual reality within. He declared: In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness, far from the Torah (Matthew 23:27-28). Even though we are sinners, we need to continually strive to have our outer behavior match up with our inner lives. Paul encouraged the believers in Philippi to discern what is best so that they could be pure and blameless for the day Christ (Philippians 1:10).

7. Woe to you, Torah-teachers and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. The seventh and final woe spoke to the ultimate hypocritical behavior of the Pharisees as a whole.This has always been a common practice in Jewish history. You can still see this today as you walk through Jerusalem. It is a respected custom for Jews to honor their religious ancestors. Many of the prophets who came to Isra’el were ultimately appreciated, even if their message wasn’t fully received at first. Jewish tradition says that Isaiah was sawed in half by King Manasseh (Tractate Yevamot 49b), Jeremiah was thrown into a cistern (Jeremiah 38:1-13). Yet the generation that Christ lived in was denying that they had the same attitude as their ancestors. Indeed, they said: If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets. So in true prophetic fashion, Messiah used their own words to connect them to the ungodly behavior of the past.¹³¹⁰ So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. Go ahead, then, and complete what your ancestors started (Mattityahu 23:29-32)!

Yeshua Messiah then condemned the specific Jewish generation that rejected Him. At the culmination of His teaching about them, the maverick Rabbi held nothing back, saying: You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to Gei-Hinnom? Regardless of what any previous generation did, Jesus’ generation was guilty of the same behavior as their descendants. Therefore I am sending you prophets and sages and Torah-teachers. Some of them you will kill, having the Lord’s followers executed on stakes as criminals. Clearly this is a reference to those Jewish religious leaders who handed over righteous believers to the Romans for an agonizing death on the cross. In addition, they would authorize Jewish authorities to flog them in your synagogues. That was an acceptable Torah practice as punishment for what they believed to be heretics or criminals. They will be so consumed with opposing the Truth that they will pursue believers from town to town. And so upon that specific generation will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the Temple and the altar. Truly I tell you, all this will come on this generation (Mt 23:33-36).

Three days earlier, as Jesus entered Jerusalem as the Messiah, He saw the City and wept over it (Luke 19:41). Now, as if it were the last time to receive Him, Christ cried out to the holy City: Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you. With such a horrific reception, we might expect Yeshua to rain down burning sulfur as the LORD did on Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19:24). On the contrary, He spoke tenderly in the first person: How often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings (Matthew 23:37a). Whether it was the Angel of the LORD who appeared to Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3), or the message of repentance to Micah (Micah 7:8-20), Messiah’s desire has always been to gather His people together for blessing. But He realized that His time of teaching was finished.

God’s compassion for Isra’el is so beautiful yet forceful, but [they] refused (Mattityahu 23:37b)! Jewish history is filled with many mysteries. Why have so many tragic events taken place? Or in the words of the Passover Guide (Hebrew: Haggadah), why is it that “in every generation there are those who rise up against us?” Christ’s answer is not meant to be to simplistic, but it does show us part of the answer from His perspective. It is not that ADONAI has abandoned Isra’el, but that Isra’el has far too often abandoned ADONAI. From YHVH’s point of view, it is not that He has judged her so severely, but that Isra’el has removed herself from the LORD’s protective grace in this sinful world.

Jesus continued to explain some of the immediate results of His rejection by the Sanhedrin (see Lg – The Great Sanhedrin) and the nation. In the strongest terms, He declared: Look, God is abandoning your house to you, leaving it desolate (Matthew 23:38 CJB). Ha’Shem was not announcing the destruction of their personal homes, but upon the great house of Jerusalem, the Holy Temple. This would have been more clearly understood in the original Hebrew, which He undoubtedly spoke to the Pharisees. The glorious Temple in Jerusalem was called the Holy House (Hebrew: Beit-Ha’Mikdash). In fact, this way of referring to the Temple was so ingrained in their culture, it was often simply referred to as the House (Hebrew: Ha-Beit). And that House was indeed left desolate when the Romans armies destroyed the Temple (see Mt – The Destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple on Tisha B’Av in 70 AD). It is important to remember that this judgment was specific to that particular Jewish generation that rejected Jesus. They were the eyewitnesses to the life of Christ and who personally rejected His offer of national salvation.

It would be extremely sad if this section ended with the previous sentence, but there is a beautiful promise in the midst of that troubling time. The Messiah would be separated from His people by His impending death, but would be reunited with Him again. He ends by telling the crowd: For I tell you, you will not see Me again until you say, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of ADONAI” (Matthew 23:39). This famous phrase is part of the Hallel Psalms 113-118, specifically 118:26, which were chanted at several major Jewish holidays, including Passover (Hebrew: Pesach) and Booths (Hebrew: Sukkot). Our Lord made this statement just two days before the entire Jewish community would be chanting the Hallel at their Passover Seder meals! It would have been a great blessing to welcome Yeshua as King Messiah at Passover, but it would have to wait for a later generation (see Revelation Ev – The Basis for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ).

Despite the national rejection at Pesach, Sukkot foreshadows Christ’s acceptance. Sukkot will be the only feast celebrated during the thousand-year messianic Kingdom (Zechariah 14:16-19). Today, both Jewish and Gentile believers can rejoice in the fact that Pesach perfectly prefigures Messiah’s death, and Sukkot is a sign of His return. It was no coincidence that Jesus died specifically on the fifteenth of Nisan, the very day of Passover! Thus, it seems that His return, as symbolized by Sukkot, is guaranteed.¹³¹¹

In 1915 Pastor William Barton started to publish a series articles. Using the archaic language of an ancient storyteller, he wrote his parables under the pen name of Safed the Sage. And for the next fifteen years he shared the wisdom of Safed and his enduring spouse Keturah. It was a genre he enjoyed. By the early 1920s, Safed was said to have a following of at least three million. Turning an ordinary event into an illustration of a spiritual truth was always a keynote of Barton’s ministry.

Now it came to pass as I traveled that I came to a certain place where there was an Inn, and I entered and Lodged there. And in the Inn was one Bath Tub, and every Saturday night each Guest bathed themselves in it. And I watched them as they Furtively Hastened through the halls, clad in Bathrobes or in something less, and they were not Naked, yet did they hasten as if ashamed.

And in time it came about that I Obtained Entrance into the Bathroom, just as Another Man was Leaving it. And he wore a Ragged Bathrobe, and a Smile that said, Behold, I am clean.

And I entered, and the Water still was Running from the Tub, and Gurgling as it ran.

And I looked within the Tub, and saw there was a Ridge on the inside of it, which marked the Level of the Water at the time of the last Occupant had taken a bath. And I didn’t liked it.

Then I had a conversation with my soul, and my soul said to me, Doest thou well to be Wroth with the man who last Bathed? Behold the Ridge around the tub. Is it not evidence that he hath had a bath? Yea, doth it not show that he Needed one? Yea, furthermore, doth it not prove that the bath Wrought Well for him, and that by the Measure of whatever thou seest on the Sides of the tub, and what hath run down the pipe, the man is Cleaner than when he entered? Lovest thou not truth, and the evidence thereof? And is not Cleanliness a Virtue wherein thou shouldst Rejoice?

And I said, Yes, I rejoice in the Truth, but the Evidence gives me no Pleasure; and I Love Virtue, and Cleanliness is a virtue, yet I would rather he had given me other proof of his Cleanliness, or given me none at all.

Then I considered within myself, and I meditated on what had happened. And I realized that there are many who practice their virtues in such a way that they make virtue unlovely.

Yes, there are those who serve the Lord as if the devil were in them.¹³¹²

Whose Son is the Messiah?
Matthew 22:41-46; Mark 12:34b-37; Luke 20:41-44
Wednesday the thirteenth of Nisan

Whose Son is the Messiah? DIG: Were the Pharisees expecting the Messiah to be human or divine? What problem with this does Jesus point out? Why would it take the Lord’s death and resurrection to show that the Meshiach is more than just David’s son? Given the issue of authority since His Triumphal Entry, why is Christ being asked this question now?

REFLECT: Why do you think Yeshua’s answer silenced His enemies? What else do you think they were thinking but didn’t say?

The sun climbed higher and higher in the sky, and business in the Temple courts went on as Jesus continued to mesmerize the crowd within the hearing of His voice. The fact that Messiah was stumping the religious big wig’s spread like wildfire. It made the pilgrims love Him even more. They were continuously speaking of Him as the prophet that Moshe spoke of (Deut 18:15-22). Their hope of being delivered from the Romans, combined with the Lord’s celebratory entry into Tziyon just three short days ago could not be contained.

Singing at the Temple: It was Wednesday and the Temple choir was singing. Fifteen semicircular steps led from the Court of the Women, through the Nicanor Gate and into the Court of Isra’el.  During the great feasts these magnificent steps served as a podium for the choir and the orchestra. From the Talmund Tractate thamid we know exactly which Psalm would have been sung on which day of the week in connection with the daily burnt offering in the Temple. It is amazing how closely each of the Psalms coincides with the singing of these daily readings. It’s amazing how the daily psalms agreed with Christ’s daily events during Holy Week. Therefore, as Jesus entered the Temple Mount the Levitical choir, with instrumental accompaniment from the Temple orchestra, sang:

God of vengeance, ADONAI! God of vengeance, appear! Assert Yourself as Judge of the earth! Pay back the proud as they deserve! How long are the wicked, ADONAI, how long are the wicked to triumph? They pour out insolent words, they go on bragging, all these evildoers. They crush Your people, ADONAI, they oppress Your heritage. They kill widows and strangers and murder the fatherless. They say, “YHVH isn’t looking; the God of Ya’akov won’t notice.” Take notice, yourselves, you boors among the people! You fools, when will you understand? Will the One who planted the ear not hear? Will the One who formed the eye not see? Will the One who disciplines nations not correct them? Will the Teacher of humanity not know? ADONAI understands that people’s thoughts are merely a puff of wind. How happy the man whom You correct, YHVH, whom You teach from Your Torah, giving him relief from days of trouble, till a pit is dug for the wicked! For ADONAI will not desert His people, He will not abandon His heritage. Justice will once again become righteous, and all the upright in heart will follow it. Who will champion My cause against the wicked? Who will stand up for Me against evildoers? If ADONAI hadn’t helped me, I would soon have dwelt in the land of silence. When I said, “My foot is slipping!” Your grace, ADONAI, supported me. When my cares within me are many, Your comforts cheer me up. Can unjust judges be allied with You, those practicing wrong in the name of the law? They band together against the righteous and condemn the innocent to death. But ADONAI has become my stronghold, my God is my rock of refuge. Be He repays them as their guilt deserves; He will cut them off with their own evil; ADONAI our God will cut them off (Psalm 94 CJB). Aren’t the words expressed in this Psalm, especially verses 1-4 and 20-23, a remarkable rebuke of pharisaic Judaism?

On Wednesday, the thirteenth of Nisan, while Jesus was teaching in the Court of the Gentiles, the Pharisees were gathered together. So He turned and asked them a question of His own: Tell Me your view concerning the Messiah? Whose Son is He? His question would cause them to consider some important details concerning the Messiah. It is important to understand that the teaching of a son of God is found numerous times in the TaNaKh (see Ps 2:12; Isaiah 9:6 and Prov 30:4 among others), as well as in Talmudic commentaries. Tractate Sanhedrin 93b states that the government will be on the shoulders of the Messiah, who is also called a son in the same passage. Of course Judaism never understood this idea in the same sense as pagan Greek mythology, where a “god” could give physical birth to a “son.” Yet in Hebrew idiom, a son is also one who is a direct representative in a spiritual sense.¹²⁹⁷

On the other hand, the opinion was widespread in Judaism that the promised Messiah would be an ordinary person. Various passages in the TaNaKh reveal that He would be a direct descendant of David. It follows from this that the promised Meshiach would be a real person. The Lord showed, by means of Psalm 110 (below), a passage that in many cases was interpreted as pointing to the Anointed One throughout Judaism, that King David addressed his messianic descendant with the title of Lord.¹²⁹⁸

Of course God is spirit, and His worshipers must worship in Spirit and truth (see Ca – Jesus Talks With a Samaritan Woman). Because Ha’Shem is spirit, He cannot physically father a Son. But YHVH doesn’t have literal wings, hands or eyes. Therefore, sometimes the Ruach ha-Kodesh helps us to understand His eternal attributes through these familiar terms. So the term Son of God would help us understand His unique relationship between YHVH and His Son, the Meshiach.

The Pharisees answered Yeshua’s question with another familiar teaching, that the Messiah would be the Son of David (Matthew 22:41-42; Mark 12:35; Luke 20:41 CJB). The TaNaKh speaks of a son coming from the house of King David who would rule over Isra’el (Second Samuel 7:12-16). Therefore, a common rabbinic name for King Messiah is Meshiach ben David (Tractate Sukkah 52a). This being an established belief, Jesus asked the Pharisees a deeper theological question.

The Lord said to them: How is it then that David, speaking by the Holy Spirit, calls the Messiah “Lord” if He is merely a physical descendant of the family? Because in Judaism the term son can also mean “a physical descendant.”

The scripture being discussed here is David’s well-known Psalm 110:1 that makes a unique statement: For He says, “ADONAI said to my Lord: Sit at my right hand until I make Your enemies Your footstool” (Matthew 22:43-44; Mark 12:36; Luke 20:42-43). Here, David confirms that this Son, the Messiah, is greater than himself. Not only that, but Jesus also poses a technical question based on the Hebrew text. It’s as if He were asking those Pharisees, “How do you account for two instances of the root word Adon in the same verse? Is it just a statement of David’s respect for a human son or is it, in fact, God’s affirmation that the Son of David is really the divine Meshiach , ADONAI revealed in Isra’el?” In classical midrash form, the Lord challenges His fellow rabbis to consider the unusual double use of the title Adon to lead them to the latter conclusion.¹²⁹⁹

Yeshua’s follow-up question was just as penetrating: If then David himself calls Him “my Lord,” how can He be his son” (Mattityahu 22:45; Luke 20:44)? How could the Messiah be both Son and Lord to David? As to His humanity, Jesus is one hundred percent human, so He could be David’s son; and as to His deity, Christ is one hundred percent God, so He would be David’s Lord. What father calls his son my Lord? I would never dream of coming up with the idea of seriously addressing my son like that. Why did David do so? Is the Messiah human and God in one Person? No rabbi in the Temple could answer that question. From then on, the discussions between the Jewish leadership and Jesus had ended.

The large crowd listened to the Lord with delight. So deep was this question that no one could say a word in reply. The theological line in the sand was drawn even more deeply, and from that day on no one dared to ask Him any more questions (Matthew 22:46; Mark 34b and 37). It is sad to say that many contemporary Jews claim that there is no doctrine about the son of God. Many suppose it is a pagan aspect of Christianity. But many Jews automatically reject the possibility of Jesus being the Meshiach because their rabbis say it cannot be so.

Which is the Greatest Commandment?
Matthew 22:34-40 and Mark 12:28-34a
Tuesday the twelfth of Nisan

Which is the greatest commandment? DIG: How can God be One and yet be Father, Son and Holy Spirit? Doesn’t it make YHVH three? What is an antimony? Why are these two commandments the greatest? How was this Pharisee’s attitude any different than many others who questioned the Lord (Mark 11:28, 12:13-14, 12:18-19)? What does the Master’s response to this man teach you about Jesus? What does his response teach you about the Kingdom of God?

REFLECT: In the three possibilities of love relationships (with God, with neighbors and self), where are you the strongest? The weakest? What have you found that helps love to grow in each area? Who do you pray for that is not far from the Kingdom?

Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Herodians and the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together to devise their own rabbinic challenge to the Nazarene in the Court of the Gentiles. It was still Tuesday, the twelfth of Nisan (to see link click Ix – The Examination of the Lamb), and one of them, an expert in the Torah, tested Messiah with this question. It was obvious that this group of Pharisees, like the others, wanted to trap Yeshua into somehow incriminating Himself. Their thinking was that by trapping Him, they could perhaps discredit His messianic claims. Rabbi, he said, which is the greatest mitzvot, literally commandments, but here better understood as central principles, in the Torah (Matthew 22:34-36; Mark 12:28)? Nothing could be more important in a discussion between two rabbis. But how would the supposed expert in the Torah entrap the Author of the Torah?

The question had undoubtedly been discussed countless times in the rabbinical school (Hebrew yeshiva), with a variety of opinions. The rabbis looked at this question in countless ways, taking into account the concept of lighter and heavier commandments. An interesting quote from the Talmud gives us some insight. 613 commandments were addressed to Moshe – 365 prohibitions corresponding the number of days in the solar year, and 248 positive commands corresponding to the number of limbs in the human body. David came and reduced them to 11 principles, which are enumerated in Psalm 15. Isaiah came and reduced them to 6, as it is said: He that walks righteously, and speaks uprightly; he that despises the gain of oppressions, that shakes hands from holding bribes, that stops his ears from hearing the blood, and shuts his eyes from looking upon evil (Isaiah 33:15). Micah came and reduced them to 3, as it is written: What does the LORD require of you, but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God (Micah 6:8)? Isaiah subsequently reduced them to 2, as it is said: Thus says the LORD, keep justice and do righteousness (Isaiah 56:1). Lastly came Habakkuk and reduced them to one, as it is said: The righteous shall live by faith (Habakkuk 2:4) (Tractate Makkot 24a).¹²⁹¹

It was no coincidence that Rabbi Sha’ul would later answer the same question this way: For in the Gospel the righteousness of God is revealed – a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it was written: “The righteous will live by faith” (Romans 1:17). Living by faith, foreign by most today, has always been a central principle of Judaism. Little did those Pharisees realize that they were standing face to face with the author of the Torah! The Master teacher’s answer focused on the most central prayer in the liturgy. The most important one, answered Jesus: is this, Sh’ma Yisra’el ADONAI Eloheniu, ADONAI echad (Deuteronomy 6:4), or Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one (Mark 12:29). YHVH is mentioned three times, and echad is used, which often means a multiple unity (like “one” cluster of grapes, or “one” bundle of sticks), instead of yachid, which excludes multiple oneness. Here the TaNaKh gives us a remez, or a hint of the Trinity.

Moshe also gave us a hint of a plurality of the Godhead when he wrote: Let us make man (Genesis 1:26a). The plural pronoun, us, is significant because it points to the Trinity. It does not prove the Trinity, but it clearly opens the door to plurality within the Godhead, aside from the word Elohim. The rabbis teach that Moses was referring to God and His angels. Isaiah 48:16b also gives us an example of the Trinity. And now Adonai ELOHIM [God the Father] has sent Me [God the Son], with His Spirit [God the Holy Spirit] (also see Isaiah 42:1, 61:1, 63:7-14). There are only three Persons that are ever called God in the TaNaKh. And nowhere does the B’rit Chadashah say that God is three, but Jesus quoting the Sh’ma says God is one, unique, and the only God there is. This is antimony. Two things that seem to be in opposition to each other, but both are true. God is three. God is one.¹²⁹²

Since the Sh’ma is a declaration of our faith in God, Messiah addresses the commandment that immediately follows: Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength (Deuteronomy 6:5). Love is the central theme of the whole Bible, and Ha’Shem has revealed His love to Isra’el and the entire world by sending His Son, the Meshiach. We are not commanded, or forced, to love God. We have been given the free will to accept or reject Him. We can say “no” to God and make it stick! But if we do choose to love Him, our love is merely a response to His loving us. Yochanan said it this way: We ourselves love now because He loved us first (First John 4:19 CJB).

Love (Hebrew: aheb), refers primarily to an act of the mind and the will, the determined care for the welfare of something or someone. It might well include strong emotion, but its distinguishing characteristics were the dedication and commitment of choice. It is the love that recognizes and chooses to follow that which is righteous, noble, and true, regardless of what one’s feelings in the matter might be. It is the Hebrew equivalent of the Greek word agapo in the New Covenant (see my commentary on Jeremiah Eo – The Days are Coming, declares the LORD, When I Will Make a New Covenant with the People of Isra’el), which is the verb of intelligent, purposeful, and committed love that is an act of the will.

Therefore, Jesus says: Love ADONAI your God with all your heart. The Jewish concept of heart refers to the core of one’s being. The book of Proverbs counsels: Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flows the springs of life (Proverbs 4:23).

And with all your soul (Hebrew: nefesh). The term soul is the closest to what we would call emotion and is the word Yeshua used when He cried out in the Garden of Gethsemane: My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death (Mattityahu 26:38a).

With all your mind. The Hebrew term is used here in the sense of intellectual, willful vigor and determination, carrying both the meaning of mental endeavor and strength.

And with all your strength (Hebrew: meod), meaning with all that we have. This indicates comprehensiveness. We are to love ADONAI our God with every part of our being. Genuine love for ADONAI is intelligent (you don’t have to check your brain at the door), feeling, willing and serving. This is the first and greatest commandment (Matthew 22:37-38 CJB; Mark 12:30b), which describes what our relationship with YHVH should be like.

Mine deep enough in every heart and you’ll find it: a longing for meaning, a quest for purpose. As surely as a child breathes, he will someday wonder, “What’s my purpose in life?”

Some search for meaning in a career. “My purpose is to be a dentist.” Fine vocation but hardly a justification for existence. They opt to be a human “doing” rather than a human “being.” Who they are is what they do; consequently they do a lot. They work many hours because if they don’t work, they don’t have an identity.

For others, who they are is what they have. They find meaning in a new car or a new house or new clothes. These people are great for the economy and rough on the budget because they are always seeking meaning in something they own . . . Some try sports, entertainment, cults, sex, you name it.

All mirages in the desert of purpose . . .

Shouldn’t we face the truth?

If we don’t acknowledge God, we are driftwood in the world.¹²⁹³

And then Yeshua pointed out that there is a second commandment that is similar to it: “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18; Mattityahu 22:39), which describes what our relationship with mankind should be like. But nothing was so simple to the rabbis, so they questioned the meaning of neighbor in the Torah. Who exactly qualified as your neighbor? Is it one close to you, or any fellow Jew?

Jesus answered this issue in another discussion where He told the parable of the Good Samaritan (see Gw – The Parable of the Good Samaritan). There, Messiah stressed that anyone, even someone outside your community like a Samaritan, is our neighbor in the eyes of ADONAI. All of us, all humanity, are created in the image of God. Jesus’ answer includes our entire existence in the present world and in the world to come. Love YHVH and love all humanity, even as you love yourself.¹²⁹⁴

The answer of the Rabbi from the despised village of Nazareth was short and to the point. There is no commandment greater than these. All the Torah and the Prophets hang on these two commandments (Matthew 22:40; Mark 12:31). The basic requirements of both Judaism and Christianity are summed up in the same dual command to love God and to love one’s neighbor. Everything else that God required of the righteous of the TaNaKh was based on these two commandments.¹²⁹⁵ The Pharisees stood in utter silence. How could anyone argue with that?

The Halacha specialist could do nothing more than agree with Christ’s statement. “Well said, Rabbi,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is One and there is no other but Him. To love Him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices” (Mark 12:32-33). For a moment, the light of God’s Word seemed to pierce the darkness of his soul.

When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, He said to him: You are not far from the kingdom of God (Mark 12:34a). It is interesting to compare the rich young ruler (see Il – The Rich Young Ruler) and this expert in the Torah. In both cases something was missing for them to step over the line from intellectual assent to faith (see my commentary on Hebrews Al – How Shall We Escape If We Ignore So Great a Salvation). If wealth was the stumbling block for the former, pride of intellect may have been fatal in the latter. I have known people of both persuasions.

Tuesday of the Holy Week was the main day of examination by the nation of Isra’el and her religious leaders to see if Yeshua was without defect or blemish. That third day of the Lord’s teaching produced the richest and most fruitful day of the week.¹²⁹⁶

Whose Wife Will She Be at the Resurrection?
Matthew 22:23-33; Mark 12:18-27; Luke 20:27-40
Tuesday the twelfth of Nisan

Whose wife will she be at the resurrection? DIG: Given that the Sadducees were status quo politicians and strict materialists (Acts 23:8), how do you imagine they questioned Yeshua? With what title? Tone of voice? How seriously did Jesus treat this absurd question? What did Christ say was the source of their erroneous assumption? What if He had ridiculed it? What does the Lord teach about life after death? How does He demonstrate the fact of the resurrection?

REFLECT: Which do you know more about, the Bible or God’s power? What are your hopes for growing in the other area? How do you deal with someone who wants to argue a point in the Bible? What if the person has honest questions and you don’t have the answer? What hope does the resurrection give to you?

The Sadducees were the second major religious sect in Isra’el during the first-century. There is no doubt that the sect of Sadducees originated in reaction to the Pharisees, and were the polar opposite of them. Relatively few in numbers, they were not held in as high esteem by the people as were the Pharisees. The Sadducees dressed elaborately, in white-and-blue linen caps with a gold band on the brow, and blue robes adorned in bright tassels and bells. Over their robes they wore capes and purses adorned in gold and precious stones.¹²⁸⁷ They took everything very literally, both in their judgments and in their doctrinal views. That principle was indeed absolutely necessary to their very existence.

Because they were the priests who oversaw the Temple, the Sadducees were more aloof and did not interact much at all with the common Jewish people. They too were very observant Jews, but with a different focus. Whereas the Pharisees were out in the synagogue community and on the streets, the Sadducees held their lofty position as the aristocrats of first-century Judaism. They belonged chiefly to the rich, luxurious and aristocratic party, including the wealthy families of priests like Annas and Caiaphas. While one could choose to join the Pharisees, it was only by priestly birthright from the tribe of Levi that one was included within the exclusive society of the Sadducees. Their given name meant the righteous ones, which was an assumption based upon their high calling, but the name and the reality seldom met each other.¹²⁸⁸

That same day, on Tuesday, the twelfth of Nisan, the main day of examination (to see link click Ix – The Examination of the Lamb), the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus with a theological question in the Court of the Gentiles. This was one of their main theological distinctions. The Sadducees were considered more conservative than the Pharisees. The reason for this was because they only believed in the five books of Moses alone, and did not view the Prophets and the Writings as inspired from God. So they claimed that they found no evidence concerning the doctrine of the resurrection (Acts 23:8). So they denied the existence of angels or spirits (Acts 23:8). For them there was no afterlife for the soul beyond death and no resurrection of the body later. They believed each person created their own destiny and therefore deserved their lot in life, whatever it was.

Several representatives from this group approached Yeshua with a theological question. Sure enough, they asked about a teaching from the Torah. Rabbi, they said, Moses told us that if a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for him (Mattityahu 22:23-24; Mark 12:18-19; Luke 20:27-28). This was the important commandment of the levirate marriage that was a vital protection to women in the ancient Near East. In many societies, if a woman was widowed and childless, she was in danger for her life with no outward means of support. The Torah required that a man’s family was then responsible to care for the widow through his brother (Deuteronomy 25:5-10). The Mishnah would eventually devote an entire tractate to it (Yebamoth) when it was eventually compiled about 200 to 220 BC. The practice was considered to be connected with the territorial possession of Palestine, and ceased with the destruction of the Jewish commonwealth (Bechar. 1.7). So far so good. But then came a distinctive twist in their hypothetical story.¹²⁸⁹

Now there were seven brothers among us. The first one married and died, and since he had no children, he left his wife to his brother. The same thing happened to the second and third brother, right on down to the seventh. Finally, the woman died too. Now then, at the resurrection, whose wife will she be since all seven of them were married to her: (Matthew 22:25-28; Mark 12:20-23; Luke 20:29-33)? Maybe the question should have been why are all these guys dying after marrying this woman! The purpose of this hypothetical question was to make Jesus look stupid or silly. Again, along with the previous dialogue with the Herodians (see Iz – Is It Right For Us to Pay Taxes to Caesar or Not?), the question was clearly a calculated one. The Sadducees like to ask the Pharisees tricky questions to make them look stupid, and often succeeded. Now they tried the same tactic with Yeshua. This was the examination of the Lamb to see if He was an acceptable sacrifice. But it was really strange that they even mentioned the resurrection in their question because everyone knew that they didn’t believe in it anyway!

Jesus replied in a general way at first: You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures (like many people today). Thus, they did not give authority to some of the most important aspects of the TaNaKh, but that wasn’t their only problem. They also minimized the power of God. These were supposedly the most educated holy men of YHVH serving in the Temple. In spite of that, they had a theological blind spot with regard to the resurrection. Continuing to speak in generalities, Messiah continued: The people of this age marry and are given in marriage (Matthew 22:29; Mark 12:24; Luke 20:34).

That said, Yeshua elaborates why they were wrong in their conclusion. But at the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage and can no longer die for they will be like the angels in heaven. Angels were originally created. There are the same number of angels today as when they were created. They do not reproduce their kind. Human beings in the next life will not be angels, however, they will be like angels in that they also will not reproduce their kind. There will be an entirely new dimension with glorified bodies when the resurrection comes (First Cor 15:52), and the old marriage covenant will be a thing of the past. They are God’s children, since they are children of the resurrection (Mt 22:30; Mk 12:25; Lk 20:35-36). The believer’s relationship with Christ will be completed by the resurrection, just as Messiah’s sonship was (Acts 2:32-36, 13:33; Romans 1:4). So Jesus teaches them plainly that there will be a resurrection.

It is important to understand that later on, Judaism upheld the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead. It was a critical doctrine within Maimonides’ Thirteen Principles of The Jewish Faith, and still found in most daily prayer books today. The Talmud, reflecting on the pharisaic doctrinal stand, is short and to the point: All Isra’el have a share in the world to come . . . and these have no share in the world to come: Those who say, “There is no resurrection of the dead from the Torah and the Torah is not from heaven” (Tractate Sanhedrin 10:1-3).

Then the Lord got specific. The Pharisees believed that you could derive doctrine from the entire TaNaKh, plus the rabbinic interpretation found in the Oral Law (see Ei – The Oral Law). But the Sadducees believed that while doctrine could be derived from the five books of Moses alone, they viewed the Prophets and the Writings as mere commentary and could only be used to illustrate doctrine. Jesus could have quoted verses like Job 19:25-26, Psalm 16:10, Daniel 12:1-2, Isaiah 26:19, and so on, but He knew the Sadducees would not have accepted it as authoritative, so He challenged them from a source He knew they would surely believe and respect – the book of Exodus.

The real issue with the example that the Sadducees used was neither the woman, nor her seven husbands. So Yeshua focused on the central issue of the resurrection itself. In the spirit of the true rabbinic pilpul reasoning, He asked them: But about the resurrection of the dead – have you not read in the Book of Moses, in the account of the burning bush, how God showed that the dead rise when He said to him, “I AM the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” (Ex 3:6-7; Mt 22:31; Mk 12:26; Lk 20:37). The present tense of the verb I AM highlights the fact of the resurrection. Jesus taught them why the resurrection would take place. The principle was that if ADONAI makes a promise to an individual and that person dies before that promise is fulfilled, the LORD is obligated to bring that person back to life (Hebrews 11:17-19).

The Sadducees knew that in Genesis, Ha’Shem appeared to Abraham and said to him: To your offspring I will give this Land (see my commentary on Genesis Du –Abram Left Haran, He Took His Wife Sari and His Nephew Lot). This was also promised personally to both Isaac (Genesis 26:1-5) and Jacob (Genesis 28:10-22). But they had never realized it. All they owned was a little parcel of land and the cave of Machpelah in which to bury their dead (see my commentary on Genesis Fu – Abraham said: I am an Alien Among You, Sell Me some Property So I Can Bury My Dead), and a few wells. However, they would indeed inherit the entire Land promised to them at the resurrection, because the Good Shepherd is the Promise Keeper.

Jesus concluded His argument by saying: He is not the God of the dead but of the living, for to Him all three patriarchs are alive. God has a living relationship with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Therefore, He cannot leave them dead. In the last analysis, He declared: You are badly mistaken (Mt 22:32: Mk 12:27; Lk 20:38)!

Once again, Yeshua’s critics were humiliated in front of the crowd that had gathered. Trying to make Christ look stupid with their religious riddle proved futile. The resurrection of the dead was taught in the Torah, and the Sadducees had erred. Even the Pharisees were impressed. Some of them responded, “Well said, rabbi.” And no one dared to ask him any more questions. When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at how He responded to such tests (Matthew 22:33; Luke 20:39-40).

What about us? Do we believe in the resurrection? Is that the goal for which we are striving? In order for the resurrection to be a living truth giving us hope, we, too, must know the Scriptures and the power of God. This is what affirms in our hearts and minds the truth of the resurrection. If we favor the “truth” of this world and ignore the truth of Scripture and the testimony of the power of ADONAI we will not open up to the Ruach to teaching us the ways of Ha’Shem. Therefore, our ministry and testimony will be diminished or eliminated.

Rabbi Sha’ul wrote: And if the Spirit of the One who raised Yeshua from the dead is living in you, then the One who raised the Messiah Yeshua from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit living in you (Romans 8:11). We will only know the fullness of the resurrection after we join Jesus in heaven, but we can – through faith, enlightened by the Holy Spirit– live with a growing expectation while we wait for the blessed hope – the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ (Titus 2:13).

Let us pray with Paul: I want to know Christ – yes, to know the power of His resurrection and participation in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead (Philippians 3:10-11).¹²⁹⁰

Is It Right For Us to Pay Taxes to Caesar or Not
Matthew 22:15-22; Mark 12:13-17; Luke 20:20-26
Tuesday the twelfth of Nisan

Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not? DIG: Why were the Pharisees and the Herodians strange partners? How was Jesus a threat to each one? How did they act? What was their motive? What was the purpose of their question? What was the trap? What does this teach you about the relationship between Church and State? Which obligation is primary? Why?

REFLECT: What belongs to Caesar in your life? To YHVH? How well are you giving to each? What often prevents you from giving to God what is God’s?

The most unusual allies united on account of their common denominator of hatred against the Son of God. The Pharisees were against Roman occupation under any circumstances; however, Roman rule was acceptable to the Herodians through the House of Herod. The Herodians were theologically in agreement with the Sadducees and politically both of these parties would have been the opposite of the Pharisees who were anti-Hasmonean, anti-Herodian and anti-Roman. The Pharisees looked for a cataclysmic messianic kingdom to remove the rule of the Herods and Rome, whereas the Herodians wanted to preserve the Herodian rule. So normally these two groups would never join hands on anything because they were at opposite ends of the political spectrum. Here, however, the Herodians and the Pharisees worked together to oppose Jesus because He was introducing a new Kingdom that neither wanted.¹²⁸²

Keeping a close watch on Him, probably in the marketplace of the Royal Stoa seen here,  it was an extension of the Court of the Gentiles, where commerce took place and money was exchanged freely,  the Sanhedrin sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians, who were really spies, but pretended to be sincere (Luke 20:20a). The irony of their alliance should not be overlooked.

ADONAI allowed the Pharisees and Sadducees to realize that the parable of the rebellious tenants (to see link click Iy – By What Authority Are You Doing These Things?) alluded to them. Sadly, instead of receiving the truth of the parable, they hoped to snare Jesus in something He said, so that they might hand Him over to the power and authority of the Roman governor (Matthew 22:15-16a; Mark 12:13; Luke 20:20b). The Great Sanhedrin (see Lg – The Great Sanhedrin) hoped to anger the Roman authorities so Jesus would be executed. The word snare is agreuo, which means to catch wild animals in a trap.

So on Tuesday, the twelfth of Nisan, the most intense day of examination (see Ix – The Examination of the Lamb), the spies came to Him and questioned Him. At this point in the conflict, sincere questions should not have been expected. They started off with a patronizing stance, saying: Rabbi, we know that you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. But if they really believed that they would not have opposed Jesus in the first place. They continued to try to soften Him up when they said: You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are. Once again, that statement was true in itself. But all that was merely leading up to the heart of the matter.

Then the flattery ended. Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right for us to give (Greek: didomi) the imperial tax to Caesar or not (Mattityahu 22:16b-17; Mark 12:14; Luke 20:21-22)? They had thought long and hard of a question that would trap Him. Their reasoning was this: If He said yes, the Pharisees would have a major accusation against Jesus as one who placed the pagan Roman Empire above obligation to God; but if He responded negatively, no doubt the Herodians would accuse Him of being guilty of trying to overthrow the Roman government. A simple “yes or no” answer would be a major problem for Messiah before either of the political parties. They thought they had Him pinned into a corner with no way out. Check mate – so they thought.¹²⁸³

But Jesus recognized their evil intent, and gave them an answer they could not have predicted. First, He exposed their true character by saying to them: You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me (Matthew 22:18; Luke 20:23)? The need to trap an animal was well known in the Jewish world because it was necessary to catch a kosher animal for ritual slaughter. A hunted animal could not be ritually kosher because its blood was spilled in the manner not prescribed by the TaNaKh. Consequently, a trap or a snare was set first to catch a kosher animal. This was often done by digging a pit and setting bait to draw the animal to its capture. This was the graphic illustration that Messiah used to expose the motives of the hypocrites. So how did He avoid the trap?¹²⁸⁴

Show me the coin used for paying the tax. The Oral Law (see Ei – The Oral Law) said a Jew could not carry anything with an image on it. So this money with Caesar’s likeness could never be used to pay the Temple tax (see Gf – Jesus and the Temple Tax) or for any other reason because it had Caesar’s image on it and the Jews considered it an idol. Nevertheless, our Lord asked for a denarius. Even though Jesus didn’t pay any attention to the Oral Law it was necessary for someone to go and get one for Him. During the long pause, it is easy to imagine the breathless silence and great anticipation the wait caused.

They finally brought Him a denarius. Little did they know the profound question that awaited them. Being Jewish, Jesus began with a question. He asked them: Whose image is this? And whose inscription? There was no getting around it, the coin answered the question. “Caesar’s,” they replied. And having Caesar’s image on it meant they couldn’t use it at all! If a Jew ended up with this forbidden money there was nothing he could do with it but give it back to it’s owner, or Caesar! This is why Yeshua said to them: So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s (Matthew 22:19-21a; Mark 12:15b-16; Luke 20:24-25a). In the Greek it reads: The things belonging to Caesar, pay off (Greek:apodidomi) to Caesar. The Pharisees and Herodians had only used didomi, meaning to give. Our Lord’s word was apodidomi, meaning paying something as a debt. The gist seems to be: The coin is Caesar’s, let him have his own coin.¹²⁸⁵

I am sure the Herodians were overjoyed to hear the first part of Messiah’s response, just as it would have surprised the Pharisees. Conversely, the second part of His answer certainly would have offended the Herodians and pleased the Pharisees when He added: And to God what is God’s (Mattityahu 22:21b; Luke 20:25b). In other words, the debts to man and the debts to God are both to be paid. The brilliance of Messiah’s words will last throughout the ages. There are two authorities, not one, found in the Bible. There is a divine authority exercised by ADONAI – give to God what is God’s; but there is also delegated authority exercised by the government (Romans 13:1-7). Therefore, the Lord clearly affirms that our allegiance to Ha’Shem take priority over everything else. It is, after all, the very first of the Ten Commandments (see my commentary on Exodus Dk – You Shall Have No Other Gods Before Me).

There was no contradiction for Torah-observant Jews. The fact that they paid taxes to Caesar did not nullify God’s rule over Isra’el, and they still needed to pay their Temple tax. We can be strong in our faith, and at the same time, be a loyal citizen. So they were unable to trap Him in what He had said there in public. The Herodians and the Pharisees could not have anticipated such a complete answer. Astonished, they left Him and went away in silence (Matthew 22:22; Mark 12:17; Luke 20:26). They had no snappy comeback because the maverick Rabbi had duped them!

The life of a believer is not set in opposition to civil life. As a result of our first parents’ decision to usurp God’s authority (see my commentary on Genesis Ba – The Woman Saw the Fruit of the Tree and Ate It), obedience to authority, whatever its nature, goes against our desire for independence. Nonetheless, Messiah died that all might acknowledge the authority of ADONAI in their lives. By gaining the power of the Ruach ha-Kodesh by faith, the desires of our fallen nature can be overcome; and by our witness of obedience, the kingdom of God can come and reign among us. Ha’Shem’s plan for our lives far exceeds what we can imagine. His plan includes obedience to the laws of governing authorities as long as they do not oppose God’s Word. The LORD’s plan will not be frustrated. Isaiah recognized Cyrus of Persia as ADONAI’s instrument for fulfilling His plan for the Jews to be returned from exile in Babylon to restore Tziyon and her Temple (see my commentary on Isaiah Ic – This is What the LORD says to Cyrus His Anointed). Let us pray that the light of the Spirit may penetrate our minds so that we can recognize and respond to YHVH’s plan for us.¹²⁸⁶

By What Authority Are You Doing These Things?
Matthew 21:19b-43; Mark 11:20 to 12:12; Luke 20:1-19
Tuesday the twelfth of Nisan

What authority are you doing these things? DIG: How did Yeshua use the withered fig tree as a teachable moment for the twelve apostles? What details of prayer did the Master give His talmidim? Why did the leaders of pharisaic Judaism challenge Christ’s authority to teach? How did they view His theological training? In reality, what training had Jesus actually received? From Whom? Why did the Lord bring up John the Baptist? Why was that a problem for the religious leaders? What was the Meshiach trying to say in the story of the two sons? What is the one main point in the parable of the rebellious tenants?

REFLECT: Our spiritual actions speak louder than our words. How does YHVH look at you today? Are you a tenant of the LORD’s vineyard? Do you have Yeshua as the cornerstone of your personal faith in ADONAI? Are you producing the kind of fruit that is pleasing to the landowner, our Father in heaven? Have you been wearing the wedding clothes of salvation that He offers to all?

The cleansing of the Temple challenged the Sanhedrin (to see link click Lg – The Great Sanhedrin) who had certainly authorized the money changing and the sale of sacrificial animals. So what right did the maverick Rabbi have to challenge their decree? Jesus was either superior to the Sanhedrin or He was a rebel who would be sentenced to death. As a result, Tuesday was the main day of examination and led to a confrontation in the Court of the Gentiles.

Singing at the Temple: From the Talmud Tractate tamid we know exactly which Psalm would have been sung on which day of the week in connection with the daily burnt offering in the Temple. It is surprising how closely each of the Psalms coincides with the singing of these daily readings. It was on this day, of all days, that the Levitical choir sang Psalm 82 in the Temple on the occasion of the daily burnt offering.  In this Psalm the judges of Isra’el were called to put an end to their injustice, since they themselves would otherwise fall under divine judgment. The Levitical choir, with instrumental accompaniment from the Temple orchestra, sang:

Elohim stands in the divine assembly; there with the judges, He judges. “How long will you go on judging unfairly, favoring the wicked? Give justice to the weak and fatherless! Uphold the rights of the wretched and poor! Uphold the rights of the wretched and poor! Rescue the destitute and needy; deliver them from the power of the wicked!” They don’t know, they don’t understand, they wander about in darkness; meanwhile, all the foundations of the earth are being undermined. This is My decree, “You are judges, sons of the Most High all of you. Nevertheless, you will die like mortals; like any prince, you will fall.” Rise up, Elohim, and judge the earth; for all the nations are Yours (Psalm 82:1-8 CJB).¹²⁷³

On Monday, Jesus cursed a fig tree that had no buds on it and used His action as a teachable moment for His talmidim. It was a perfect symbol of Isra’el, full of promise but producing nothing (see Iu – Jesus Curses a Fig Tree). Now as they went along on Tuesday morning the twelfth of Nisan the apostles saw the fig tree withered from the roots and they were amazed. Peter remembered what had happened the previous day and said to Jesus, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered! How did the fig tree wither so quickly (Mattityahu 21:20; Mark 11:20)?

Christ used the incident not only as a prophetic picture of national Isra’el but also as a lesson in personal faith. He replied: Yes! I tell you that whoever does not doubt in his heart but trusts that what God says will happen can say to this mountain, “Go and throw yourself into the sea!” and it will be done (Matthew 21:21; Mark 11:22-23 CJB). A mountain in the Scriptures represents a kingdom or an empire. This was a powerful visual lesson as they stood on the Mount of Olives, overlooking the Dead Sea to the west. Anything is possible with ADONAI in the picture.

Yeshua affirms the omnipotence of the LORD and the power of prayer when He promised: Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. Don’t reduce this grand statement to the category of new cars and paychecks. Don’t limit the promise of this passage to the selfish pool of perks and favors. The fruit ADONAI assures is far greater than earthly wealth. His dreams are much greater than promotions and proposals.

Jesus wants you to fly. He wants you to fly free of yesterday’s guilt. He wants you to fly free of today’s fears. He wants you to fly free of tomorrow’s grave. Sin, fear, death. These are the mountains He has moved. These are the prayers He will answer. That is the fruit He will grant. This is what He longs to do.¹²⁷⁴

And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins (Matthew 21:21; Mark 11:24-25). This is a tremendous promise and truth but it must also be tempered with what God says about the details of prayer. ADONAI cannot sin and will not endorse any activity that breaks the laws of His moral universe (James 1:12-16). But on the other hand, we are told by YHVH that we will receive such answers to prayer when we ask for things according to His will and not necessarily based on our own desires (First John 5:14-15).

Therefore, Christ was clearly giving a practical picture of first-century Isra’el as well as a teaching on the power of prayer. For the record, there is no mention of the Twelve or Jesus Himself ever moving a literal mountain. There are similar expressions used in the Talmudic literature to teach similar truths. The rooting up of mountains is a phrase used to describe something impossible (Tractate Sanhedrin 24a and also Mattityahu 17:20). Consequently, we must see Yeshua’s statement as a common form of rabbinic hyperbole to express an important point.

There are many mountainous challenges that face all of us at different times, yet with ADONAI’s presence in our lives, there is power for change and victory. The apostles took careful note of the implications. We, too, can see amazing answers to our prayers when they are aligned with the will of God through Jesus Christ.¹²⁷⁵

After this teaching, Jesus walked straight to the Temple. It had been three years since He had turned over the tables of the moneychangers (see Bs – Jesus’ First Cleansing of the Temple at the Passover), and He did it again the previous day (see Iv – Jesus Entered the Temple Area and Drove Out All Who Were Buying and Selling). Only this time the Meshiach didn’t need a whip fashioned out of cords, and He is no longer an unknown rabbi.

While many in Isra’el welcomed Jesus during His entrance into Yerushalayim, it is clear that many were still not convinced. The controversy continued to build as some of the religious leaders in the City of David continued to question the Messiah in the second stage of interrogation. In their system, teaching required previous rabbinic authorization. Jesus had no formal rabbinic training; however, God taught Him (see my commentary on Isaiah Ir – Because the Sovereign LORD Helps Me, I Will Set My Face Like a Flint).

It was a day of confrontation and heated discussion. After the dramatic cleansing of the Temple the previous day it was not surprising that the religious leaders confronted the trouble-making Rabbi again. They arrived again in Jerusalem and for the moment Christ ignored the money-changers and the men selling doves. Jesus entered the Temple courts and selected a spot under the shaded awnings of Solomon’s Colonnade  and begins to teach. But while Jesus was teaching the people and proclaiming the Good News, the foremost teachers of the Great Sanhedrin, immediately interrupted Him and asked: Tell us by what authority you are doing these things? This did not happen by accident. Their united plan was probably agreed upon during the previous night.

The interrogators who stood before the Rabbi from Nazareth were not merely common pharisaic leaders, but the judges of Isra’el, the leading religious minds in the nation. Their goal was to use their intellectual skill to make Jesus appear foolish. Another asked: Who gave you the authority to do this (Mattityahu 21:23; Mark 11:27-28; Luke 20:1-2)?

It has long been a common practice within Judaism that one must have some kind of rabbinic ordination to establish one’s religious authority. It was never enough to merely quote one’s own views. A qualified teacher would need to substantiate his opinion with reference to other scholars who hold such a view as well. The Hebrew word for authority means to connect or draw close; therefore, the ordination ceremony of kings, priests and rabbis was symbolized by the laying on of hands, connecting other leaders by affirming the call to duty of the newly ordained. These questions by the religious leaders implied that Yeshua was unqualified to teach because He taught in a manner different than all the other rabbis. It was, however, not only the content of His teaching, but also His manner of speaking with authority on theological issues that would normally need the affirmation of other rabbis that infuriated them (Matthew 7:28-29).¹²⁷⁶ You would have thought that by this time anyone witnessing Messiah’s miracles would have been convinced of His messiahship, but unbelief never has enough proof.

Yeshua’s response comes, again in classic Jewish form, by answering their question with a question of His own. If they answered His question sincerely, He would be more than happy to reciprocate. Jesus took them back to the ministry of John the Immerser and his baptism of repentance. He replied: I will also ask you a question. The religious leaders had probably spoken with the Pharisees who had traveled to Galilee the previous year and they considered Jesus merely clever. But they think the Nazarene uneducated, unread and hope to lure Him into a theological trap.

Answer Me, said Jesus, and I will tell you by what authority I AM doing these things. John’s baptism – was it from heaven, or of human origin? Tell Me (Matthew 21:24-25; Mark 11:29-30; Luke 20:3-4)! These were the supposed experts on the Torah, the best educated in the entire nation of Isra’el. Surely they would have no trouble answering Him. In modern terminology, He put them on the spot. Now they were stuck! They began discussing it among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will ask, ‘Why didn’t you believe him?’ But if we say, ‘Of human origin,’ all the people will stone us, because they are persuaded that John was a prophet” (Matthew 21:26; Mark 11:31-32; Luke 20:5-6). Check mate. Jesus remained silent. The religious big-shots hadn’t given Him an answer yet and the crowd knew it. It was becoming clear that they were no different from the Pharisees who unsuccessfully tried to trap Messiah in Galilee. Once again they are on the defensive. Their trap failed miserably.¹²⁷⁷

After pondering the consequences, the phony Pharisees answered Yeshua by simply professing ignorance to save face: We don’t know where it was from. In response, Jesus said: Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things (Matthew 21:27; Mark 11:33; Luke 20:7-8). Since they were unwilling to take a stand one way or another, Yeshua responded that He didn’t need to tell them the answer to their question either.

One would think the unresolved question about Christ’s rabbinic authority would have ended the confrontation with the Temple leadership. But Jesus continued to challenge the members of the Sanhedrin by telling two parables that gave an insight into spiritual truth. Then He began to speak to them in parables, saying: What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, “Son, go and work today in the vineyard.” “I will not,” he answered, but later, to his credit, he changed his mind and went. There is a clear spiritual allusion here. The phrase later changed his mind is the same as the common word for repentance (Hebrew: shuwb). Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, “I will, sir,” but his words did not match up to his actions and he did not go into the vineyard. Which of the two did what his father wanted?” “The first,” they answered (Mattityahu 21:28-31a). It was clear to the chief priests, Torah-teachers and elders that the first son was the one who pleased his father. Although he had started reluctantly, he ultimately responded with obedience. Jesus affirmed that their answer was correct, but He surprised them with a direct application to His previous question about John the Baptizer.

The Jewish leadership, hostile towards the Galilean Rabbi, was like the second son who said: I will, but thought “No.” Many Israelites who had lived in the mire of sin repented during this period. They were like the first son who said, “No,” but afterwards thought, “Yes.” Yeshua said to them: Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. For Yochanan the Forerunner came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did (Matthew 21:31b-32a).

The door of repentance is always open, but Christ had a somber warning for the religious leaders. They were in danger of judgment because even after they saw the mercy of Ha’Shem they did not repent and believe John’s testimony that Yeshua was the Messiah (Matthew 21:32b). Sinners would enter the kingdom of God, while the apostate religious leaders will not. Obedience will reveal those who are heirs to the Kingdom (First Samuel 15:22). The gates of repentance are always open, yet God is the final Gatekeeper. So according to this parable, it is not so much where we start, but how we finish.¹²⁷⁸

The crowd was in awe and the religious rulers were stunned into silence.

Without even letting the apostate leaders pause to catch their spiritual breath, Yeshua told another parable with authority ,saying: Now listen to the parable of the rebellious tenants. There was a farmer who planted a vineyard. The Jewish leadership knew that the vineyard represented Isra’el from Isaiah 5:7 where the owner of the vineyard was God the Father, the vineyard is Isra’el, and the tenants were the Pharisees.

Here, the farmer put a wall around the vineyard, dug a pit for the winepress and built a watchtower. The wall and the tower were important for protection, and the winepress for harvesting the crop. Then he rented it to tenants, delegating the responsibilities of his vineyard to them, and then went away on a long journey. When the harvest-time came, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his share of the crop. This would normally be a simple transaction as part of the agreement between the landowner and the tenant. But, in a major twist in the story, the tenants rebelled and seized his servants – this one they beat up, that one they killed, another they stoned (Matthew 21:33-35; Mark 12:1-3; Luke 20:9-10). The first servants represent the prophets in the pre-exile period (Second Chronicles 36:14-16).

It’s not like this kind of dispute had never been heard of before. The Talmud addresses a similar case where some tenants could actually claim ownership of a property if they could prove their undisputed possession of it for three years (Tractate Bava Batra 3:1). In this parable it is obvious that the tenants were attempting to take the vineyard away from the farmer and his servants.

Then the farmer sent other servants to them, more than the first group, and they killed them – some they beat up, others they killed (Mattityahu 21:36 CJB; Mark 12:4 CJB; Luke 20:11 CJB). The second servant represents the prophets in the post-exile period. They treated the second group of servants as shamefully as the first.

Yet the farmer sent [another]; this one they [also killed] (Luke 20:12 CJB). The third servant represents John the Baptist.

The Jewish leadership had killed the prophets, now they would kill the Son. He still had one person left, a son whom he loved; finally, taking extreme measures, the farmer sent him to them, saying, “I will send My beloved son, surely they will feel shame before (Greek: entrapesontai) him” (Matthew 21:37; Mark 12:5-6; Luke 20:13). The hope was not that the tenants might treat his son kindly, but rather in his presence they might feel ashamed of what they had done and give up their rebellious acts. Any other result was inconceivable to him. All of which goes to show the depth of human depravity and what lengths it will go to hold on to its sin. In using the words a son whom he loved, our Lord may have had in mind the words of the Father at His baptism: You are My Son, whom I love; with You I AM well pleased (Mark 1:11b).

But when the shameless tenants saw the son, they said to one another, “This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.” So they grabbed him, threw him out of the vineyard and killed him (Mt 21:38-39; Mark 12:7-8; Luke 20:15a). Apparently the murderous group was still conscious of the Torah in the midst of their crime, as they remembered the commandment not to desecrate the land with death. So they attacked the son outside of the borders of the property – and then they killed him (Tractate Oholot 2.1)!¹²⁷⁹

Building to the climax of the parable, Jesus asked the penetrating question: Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants? They answered Him, and said that the farmer would destroy those tenants and rent out the vineyard to others who will give him his share of the crop when it’s due. When the people heard this, they said, “God forbid” (Matthew 21:40-41 CJB; Mark 12:9 CJB; Luke 20:15-16 CJB)! Their answer was self-incriminating because it revealed their own spiritual blindness.

Isra’el and her spiritual leaders were called to be God’s special vineyard (see my commentary on Isaiah Ba – The Song of the Vineyard). In the commonly known Isaiah parable, ADONAI is said to have checked on His vineyard (Isra’el) expecting a good crop of grapes (like justice), but it yielded only bad fruit (like bloodshed and distress). But Yeshua’s parable added a new wrinkle. The original tenants were either beat up, killed, or stoned, and the vineyard subsequently rented out to other tenants. As the evil tenants considered the meaning of His conclusion, Jesus emphasized that the rejection by the original tenants should have had a familiar ring to them.

Yeshua looked directly at the chief priests, the Torah-teachers, together with the elders and said to them, “Have you never read in the TaNaKh: The very rock which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This has come from ADONAI, and in our eyes it is amazing (Psalm 118:22-23; Matthew 21:42; Mark 12:10-11; Luke 20:17; Acts 4:11; First Peter 2:4 and 7). Once again, as in the earlier part of this chapter, the quote was from the Hallel chanted at the major festivals. This had national and individual application for Isra’el. In particular, Yeshua focuses on the apostate religious leaders (the builders of Judaism) who ironically rejected the very cornerstone of their faith (Yeshua as King Messiah). One can only imagine the ridiculous thought of the Holy Temple trying to stand without the very cornerstone of the foundation. No way Moshe!

Whoever falls on that stone, Yeshua, will be broken to pieces, his pride will be done away with, and in his humiliation he may recognize his sin and need for forgiveness, so that he repents. But if he persists in his own way, apart from God, and the stone falls on him, he will be crushed to powder, totally destroyed (Mattityahu 21:44 CJB; Luke 20:18 CJB).¹²⁸⁰ The Messiah will be a point of contention between the Jews who believe and those who do not. That specific Jewish generation was crushed in 70 AD.

Therefore, I tell you that the kingdom of God (the vineyard) will be taken away from you (the current leaders) and given to the kind of people that will produce good fruit (Matthew 21:43 CJB). Covenant, or Replacement Theology, teaches that God took the Kingdom away from the Jews and gave it to the Gentile Church. Obviously, that is not what is taught here by the Scriptures. There are too many verses affirming that while Isra’el may be largely in unbelief regarding Messiah, His Covenant promises are secure (Jeremiah 21:31-36; Romans 11:1-5, 25-29). Rather, He is warning that Jewish leaders who do not look out for God’s interests will be deprived of sharing in His rulership; and this task, with its rewards, will fall to a different Jewish generation at the end of the Great Tribulation (see my commentary on Revelation Ev – The Basis for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ).¹²⁸¹ Therefore, the message is not replacing Isra’el here, but a postponement of the fulfillment until all Isra’el is saved (Romans 11:26) and ready to receive the true King Messiah. The one main point of the parable of the rebellious tenants is that the Kingdom was being taken away from that specific Jewish generation, but it would be given back at a future time when all Isra’el demonstrates true repentance.

The Examination of the Lamb
First Corinthians 5: 6-7

Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know the saying, “It takes only a little hametz (leavened dough, either cooked or not) to leaven the whole batch of dough?” Get rid of the old hametz, so that you can be a new batch of dough, because in reality you are unleavened. For our Pesach Lamb, the Messiah, has been sacrificed (CJB).

At the feast of the Passover, the man of the house was commanded to examine a lamb for the Passover meal (Exodus 12:3-6). For five days, from the tenth of Nisan to the fourteenth he was to examine the lamb to make sure it was without defect or blemish and worthy to be the Pesach sacrifice. Jesus entered Jerusalem on Sunday, the tenth of Nisan and was examined by the Jews for five days. As far as the Jewish religious leaders were concerned, they had two goals. They would question Yeshua in front of the multitude to turn the people against Him, and they looked for a specific way to charge Him with a crime so they could put Him to death by Roman law. But it was not successful. After those five days of examination by the Pharisees, by the Sadducees, by the Torah-teachers and by the Herodians, Jesus answered all their objections and questions; therefore, He was found to be without defect or blemish. Christ ate the Seder meal on the night of the Passover, the same night that all the Jewish people ate it. But because the Son of God qualified as the Pesach Lamb, He was slaughtered on the day of the Passover, the fifteenth of Nisan.¹²⁷¹

The prophet Isaiah pointed to the fact that the Messiah was to be the final sacrifice for sin (see my commentary on Isaiah, to see link click Jc – He Was Oppressed and Afflicted Yet He Did Not Open His Mouth). The promise was that someday the sacrificial system would end, but more to the point, the Passover sacrifice would end. The reason it would end was because the Mashiach ben David would become the final Pesach sacrifice.¹²⁷²

The Jewish way of calculating time is different than the way Gentiles calculate time. In Judaism, the night precedes the day. And there was evening, and there was morning – the first day (Genesis 1:5b). As a result, we must conclude that Jesus ate the Passover meal with His apostles, was crucified and buried all on the same day, Friday, the fifteenth of Nisan.

Shabbat on the ninth of Nisan: After arriving from Jericho, Jesus spent the Sabbath in Bethany at the home of Miryam, Martha and Lazarus (John 12:1). It was a day of rest, worship, and preparation for what was to be the most important week in His human life.

Sunday the tenth of Nisan: On the tenth day of the month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household. On the tenth day of  Nisan, each man is to take a lamb or kid for his family, one per household. You are to keep it until the fourteenth day of the month, and then the entire assembly wof the community of Isra’el will slaughter it at dusk (Exodus 12:3 and 6). This day marked His Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem (Mark 11:1-11), fulfilling the ancient prophecy of Zechariah 9:9. It was the first day of examination by the nation of Isra’el to see if He was without defect or blemish. When the daily burnt offering was presented by the Levites in the Temple in Jerusalem, at the same time Israelites of all the other tribes would gather in the four hundred or so synagogues throughout the Land in order to read portions of the creation account. The readings were divided up over the six working days. It is remarkable to see how the events of the creation week line up with those of the Holy Week. Sunday’s reading was from Genesis 1:1-8.

Monday the eleventh of Nisan: The second cleansing of the Temple, the cursing of the fig tree and Yeshua predicted His death (Mark 11:12-18). It was the second day of examination by the nation of Isra’el to see if He was without defect or blemish. The synagogue reading for Monday was from Genesis 1:6-13.

Tuesday the twelfth of Nisan: and the next morning the talmidim saw the fig tree that had withered after being cursed the day before. It was the third and main day of examination by the nation of Isra’el and her apostate religious leaders to see if the Son of Righteousness was without defect or blemish (Mark 12:1-44). The synagogue reading for Tuesday was from Genesis 1:9-19.

Wednesday the thirteenth of Nisan: On the fourth day of examination the Pharisees had finished their examination of Jesus and from that day on no one dared to ask Him any more questions. Christ pronounced seven woes on the Torah-teachers and Pharisees so they schemed to arrest and kill Him. Later that day Yeshua commented on the widow’s offering before He and His twelve apostles left Jerusalem and returned to Bethany. As they paused on the Mount of Olives and viewed the Temple, He answered three questions and taught them about the necessity of being ready for His return.

Thursday the fourteenth of Nisan: After sundown, the night preceding the day, Messiah was invited to the home of Simon, the leper, for dinner. There, Mary, the sister of Lazarus, anointed Him with expensive perfume for burial. It was then that Christ rebuked Judas for wanting to sell the expensive perfume made of pure nard so the money could be given to the poor. Then Judas left Bethany, walked to the palace of Caiaphas the high priest in Jerusalem and agreed to betray the Meshiach. During the day preparations were made for the Seder. After five days of examination Jesus qualified as the Pesach Lamb. Therefore, the Passover began at twilight (Exodus 12:6; Leviticus 23:5; Numbers 9:2), at the end of the fourteenth of Nisan, and continued on through the fifteenth of Nisan.

At twilight, Thursday turned to Friday the fifteenth of Nisan and the Passover Seder was celebrated in the Upper Room that night (Exodus 12:8). All during that night, and early into the day, the history of mankind changed forever: Jesus agonized at Gethsemane (Mark 14:27-42), and was arrested and tried (Mark 14:43 to 15:15). By 9:00 am Yeshua was crucified, at 3:00 pm He had died on the cross for the sins of the world and was placed in Joseph’s tomb before sundown (Mark 15:16-47) (Day 1 in the tomb). The synagogue reading for Friday was from Genesis 1:24-31.

Shabbat on the sixteenth of Nisan: in the tomb throughout that day, or one full day (Day 2 in the tomb).

Sunday the seventeenth of Nisan: the Resurrection, a partial day (Mark 16:1-20) (Day 3 in the tomb).

During the five days of examination, while there were undoubtedly many more questions that are not recorded in the Bible (Yochanan 21:25), there were four main questions:

First: the Pharisees, Sadducees, Torah-teachers and Herodians asked Jesus: By What Authority Are You Doing These Things? (see Iy);

Second: the Pharisees and the Herodians asked the Shield of our salvation: Is It Right For Us to Pay Taxes to Caesar or Not? (see Iz);

Third: the Sadducees asked the Rock of our stronghold: Whose Wife Will She Be at the Resurrection? (see Ja);

And fourth the Torah-teachers asked the Lord of our strength: Which is the Greatest Commandment in the Torah? (see Jb);

But at the end of His testing, Yeshua asked them the one question that they could never answer: Whose Son is the Messiah? (see Jc).

Jesus Predicts His Death
John 12: 20-50
Monday the eleventh of Nisan

Jesus predicts His death DIG: In this example, who is the kernel of wheat? How is this related to the Greeks’ request? What is Jesus calling His talmidim to do in verses 25-26? What promise do they receive? What are some of the miraculous signs that Yeshua performed in His ministry? How do the prophecies from Jeremiah 5:21 and Isaiah 6:10 account for the people’s disbelief in spite of these signs? Do you think the prophecy from Isaiah 6:10 is a statement of irony, or of God’s intent? Why? How do verses 44-46 here, relate to John 1:1-5? How is Messiah like the light?

REFLECT: Where is Yeshua calling you to die so that you might live? What do you tend to hold on to rather than follow Christ? Do you feel like you are walking in darkness? The Light? Or in the shadows right now? Where do you find it most difficult to live your faith? At home or at work? Why? When have you felt pressured by fear to keep quiet about your faith? What happened? What have you found most helpful in letting people know where you stand with ADONAI?

After the cleansing of the Temple on Monday the eleventh of Nisan (to see link click Ix – The Examination of the Lamb), the apostles encountered some Greeks in the Court of the Gentiles among those who went up to worship at the festival of Pesach. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus” (John 12:20-21). It is significant that these men approached Philip, but Philip took them to Andrew and let Andrew introduce them to the Master. These were either God-fearing Gentiles who attended Jewish synagogues or full-fledged proselytes to Judaism who were coming to Yerushalayim to worship ADONAI at Pesach. Their coming was symbolic of the coming of the Gentiles to worship God through Christ.

These Greeks were very interested in Yeshua. They sought out Philip in particular. Perhaps because of his Greek name, they thought he was the best contact. Or maybe they had learned that he was more or less the administrator of the Twelve, the one who made all the arrangements on behalf of the talmidim. Again we see that whether Philip held that position officially or by default, he seems to have been the one in charge of operations. Being the typical administrative type, he probably carried around in his head a full manual of protocols and procedures. He was a by-the-book kind of guy. Somehow these Greeks knew he was the policy person, so they asked him to arrange a meeting with the Lord.

So Philip took the Greeks to Andrew. Andrew would bring anyone to Jesus. So Philip went to tell Andrew; and in turn Andrew and Philip told Jesus (Jn 12:22). Obviously, Philip was not a decisive man. There was no precedent for introducing Gentiles to Yeshua, so he recruited Andrew to help him before doing anything. That way no one could fault Philip for not going by-the-book. After all, Andrew was always bringing people to the Master. Andrew would get the blame if anyone objected. We may safely assume that the Savior of sinners received the Greeks gladly. Just as He Himself  had said: Whoever comes to Me I will never drive away (Jn 6:37). But here, nothing is recorded about Christ’s meeting with the Greeks except His response.

Messiah responded with a storm of emotion. He recognized in these Greeks the forerunners of the vast throng of Gentiles that would come to Him from every nation and tribe and people and language (Rev 7:9). It was a foreshadowing of the greater things of the Kingdom. But the hour of crisis had arrived. The great price of the Kingdom must first be paid and the Lord’s answer must have puzzled those listening.

The coming of the Greeks confirmed that the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. For most people death is their humiliation. But for Yeshua, death was His means of glory. His willingness to die for others’ sins in obedience to the Father (Isaiah 53:10 and 12) brought Him this glory. Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. Death was necessary for a harvest, and the Lord’s death would produce a great harvest for the kingdom of God. Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Death is the way to life. Whoever serves me must follow Me; and where I AM, My servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves Me (John 12:23-26). In Messiah’s case, His death led to glory and life not only for Himself but also for others.

The realization that nothing stood between Jesus and the cross led to an emotional glimpse of His humanity. In a particularly transparent moment, we see the Lord overcome by dread. He knew that He would face agony on a cosmic scale, far more than the physical pain of the crucifixion. Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? “Father, save Me from this hour?” No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name! Then a voice came from heaven. I have glorified it, and will glorify it again (Yochanan 12:27-28). Nevertheless, Jesus came to earth for this agony, a fact the Father verified in a voice heard from heaven. The rabbis taught that when God speaks from heaven, “the daughter of His voice” the bat-kol, or an echo, is heard on earth. After the last of the prophets, it was considered that YHVH provided the bat-kol to continue to give guidance to the people (Tractate Yoma 9b).

The bat-kol was heard on earth but not everyone understood. The crowd that was there and heard it, said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to Him (John 12:29). Messiah said: This voice was for your benefit, not mine. Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the Adversary, the prince of this world will be driven out. And I, when I AM lifted up from the earth onto the cross, will draw all people to Myself. Jesus did not mean here that everyone would be saved for He made it clear that some would be lost (Yochanan 5:28-29). He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die (John 12:31-33).¹²⁶⁸

The pious Greeks were puzzled and spoke up: We have heard from the Torah that the Messiah will remain forever, so how can you say, “The Son of Man must be lifted up?” Who is this “Son of Man” (John 12:34)? The crowd immediately understood the literal portion of Jesus’ claim that He, the Meshiach, would be lifted up. Their confusion reflected their theological problem concerning the Expected One, which persists among the Jews even to this day. The Anointed One described in the TaNaKh is a warrior king, who will vanquish Israel’s foes, lead her into prosperity, and rule from the throne of David forever. Yet He is also a suffering Servant (see my commentary on Isaiah Iz – See, My Servant Will Act Wisely and Be Lifted Up and Exalted), who will die on behalf of His people. How can a dead man vanquish any foe and rule from any throne? To solve this problem the Jews developed a theology of two Messiahs (see Mv – The Jewish Concept of Two Messiah’s).

When the Greeks brought up theological difficulties, Jesus did not answer their question directly. His reply directs them to the urgent necessity for acting on the light during the brief time that they have it. He told them: You are going to have the light just a little while longer. The Son of Righteousness was about to be taken from the earth. Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you. The darkness would soon overtake them like the sudden nightfall of the Near East, if they did not listen to Him. Whoever walks in the dark does not know where they are going. Believe in the light while you have the light, so that you may become children of light (Yochanan 12:35). The way they were to make use of the messianic Light was by believing in the Messiah Himself. By doing so, they would be children of light, or spiritually enlightened men.

When he had finished speaking, Jesus left and hid Himself from the crowd (John 12:36). After the Lamb of God completed His revelation, He retreated to the seclusion of Bethany for the evening. Tomorrow would be a day of withering cross-examination coming from all those who wanted to see Him dead: The Pharisees, Sadducees, Torah-Teachers, and Herodians. What a day it will be.

The remaining verses are a postscript in two parts. The First part, in verses 36-43, contains John’s editorial comments regarding the state of unbelief among the Israelites.

Even after Jesus had performed so many signs in their presence, they still would not believe in Him. This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet: “Lord, who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed” (John 12:37-38)? Yochanan said this unbelief was anticipated in Isaiah 53:1. Their spiritual blindness and unbelief were part of God’s sovereign plan predetermined before Christ came so that through their rejection salvation might come to all the nations of the world.

For this reason they could not believe, because, as Isaiah says elsewhere: He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn – and I would heal them. Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about Him (John 12:39-41). John quoted Isaiah 6:10 to show that YHVH sovereignly intended to blind the Jewish people to the truth of Yeshua’s message. These verses demonstrate that God’s sovereign purposes have not been frustrated through the unbelief and opposition, but rather His purposes have succeeded.

This raises all sorts of theological questions such as, “How can Ha’Shem hold people responsible for their unbelief when it has been sovereignly determined by divine election?” Many of these mysteries will be cleared up when we get to heaven. But God’s sovereignty never does away with personal responsibility.¹²⁶⁹ We can say “no” to God and make it stick. This is antimony. Two things that seem to be in opposition to each other, but both are true. For example, the Trinity is antimony. How can ADONAI be three distinct and different personalities, yet One (Deuteronomy 6:4)? It doesn’t make sense to our finite minds. But that’s what the Bible teaches. The same is true with God’s sovereign choice and our free will.

Although the nation of Isra’el was spiritually blinded, there were many of the leaders, like Nicodemus (see Bv – Jesus Teaches Nicodemus), that believed in the Light. Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in Him. But because of the Pharisees they would not openly acknowledge their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved human praise more than praise from God (John 12:42-43). But these closet believers were afraid to confess their faith publicly like Nicodemus (John 19:39-40) for fear of being put out of the synagogue and losing their wealth and being shunned by their families. They were not going to identify with someone the Pharisees were determined to execute. Their desire to retain their influence among the people silenced any profession of faith in Christ as the Anointed One.

The second part, in verses 44-50, is a summary of our Great Rabbis’ teaching throughout His public ministry.

Christ now spoke what were to be His last words to the multitude. Jesus’ statement here was an invitation to place their faith in Him in view of the coming judgment. Then Jesus cried out: Whoever believes in Me does not believe in Me only, but in the One who sent Me. The one who looks at Me is seeing the one who sent Me. I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in Me should stay in darkness (John 12:44-46). The Prophet of Nazareth declared that whoever believed in Him also believed in the Father because He and the Father are one. Antimony. No one needs to stay in spiritual darkness any longer.

Messiah’s primary purpose in coming into the world was to provide salvation for the world. But if people rejected that salvation, He then became their Judge because they rejected His message: If anyone hears My words but does not keep them, I do not judge that person. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. There is a judge for the one who rejects Me and does not accept My words; the very words I have spoken will condemn them at the last day. That specific generation of Yeshua’s day had heard Jesus’ words and would be judged by those very same words. For I did not speak on My own, but the Father who sent Me commanded me to say all that I have spoken. I know that His command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told Me to say (John 12:47-50). But in any generation, people who hear the truth are held responsible for that truth. Christ’s words are able to judge people because His words did not originate with Him but originated with the Father who sent Him. The Lord’s words lead to eternal life.

The purpose of ADONAI’s revelation in Jesus is positive: He came to save and not to judge. But the rejection of God’s revelation inevitably brings a hardening in sin and ultimately in Ha’Shem’s judgment. In speaking of Jewish national unbelief, Yochanan balanced his theological explanation with the Messiah’s serious exhortation to the nation to repent. In the words of Moshe: For this is not a trivial matter for you; on the contrary, it is your life (Deuteronomy 32:47a).¹²⁷⁰

Jesus Entered the Temple Area and Drove Out
All Who Were Buying and Selling
Matthew 21:12-17; Mark 11:15-19; Luke 19:45-48
Monday the Eleventh of Nisan

Jesus entered the Temple area and drove out all who were buying and selling. DIG: What angered Yeshua so much about what He saw in the Temple? Although the Sadducees once performed a useful role for out-of-town pilgrims, how had it become a stumbling block to worship for the Jewish people? To the Gentile ministry? How is the cursing of the fig tree (to see link click Iu – Jesus Curses a Fig Tree) an acted-out parable about what happened in the Temple and what was to come (Hosea 9:10-17)? What was the Chief Shepherd threatening when He said the Sadducees were making the Temple out to be a den of robbers?

REFLECT: If Jesus were to visit your messianic synagogue or church, where might He begin turning over tables? How would you describe your own response to injustice, abuse, or moral corruption? What does it take to motivate you enough to take action? Where is ADONAI calling you to get involved?

Singing at the Temple: The Temple choir was singing on the fifteen semicircular steps led from the Court of the Women, through the Nicanor Gate and into the Court of Isra’el.  During the great feasts these magnificent steps served as a podium for the choir and the orchestra. From the Talmud Tractate tamid we know exactly which Psalm would have been sung on which day of the week in connection with the daily burnt offering in the Temple. It is amazing how closely each of the Psalms coincides with the singing of these daily readings. It’s amazing how the daily psalms agreed with Christ’s daily events during Holy Week. Therefore, as Jesus entered the Temple Mount the Levitical choir, with instrumental accompaniment from the Temple orchestra, sang Psalm 48. This psalm praised God’s royal and judicial authority:

Great is ADONAI and greatly to be praised, in the City of our God, His holy mountain, beautiful in its elevation, the joy of all the earth, Mount Tziyon, in the far north, the City of the great King. In its citadels God has been revealed as a strong defense. For the kings met by agreement; together they advanced. They saw and were filled with compassion; terrified, they took to flight. Trembling took hold of them, pains like those of a woman in labor, as when the wind out of the east wrecks the “Tarshish” ships. We heard it, and now we see for ourselves in the City of ADONAI, the Lord of  heaven’s armies, in the City of our God. May God establish it forever. God, within Your Temple we meditate on your grace. God, Your praise, like Your name, extends to the ends of the earth. Your right hand is filled with righteousness. Let Mount Zion rejoice, let the daughters of Judah be glad, because of your judgment [on our enemy]. Walk through Zion, go all around it; count how many towers it has. Note its ramparts, pass through its citadels, so that You can tell generations to come that such is God, our God forever; He will guide us eternally (Ps 48:1-14).¹²⁵⁷

It was Monday the eleventh of Nisan (to see link click Ix – The Examination of the Lamb) and as the Lord and His apostles entered Jerusalem they went directly into the center of God’s spiritual universe – the Temple Mount. This was a bustling hub of activity, not only for the tens of thousands of Jews who lived in the vicinity, but also for the hundreds of thousands of Jews who would travel long distances to the Holy City of Zion – from Galilee, Syria, Egypt and even Rome – to celebrate the climax to the Jewish year. It was a requirement for all able-bodied Jewish men not only to come to the Temple for the three main pilgrim festivals of Pesach, Shavu’ot, and Sukkot (see my commentary on Exodus Eh – Three Times a Year You Are to Celebrate a Festival to Me), but to bring their tithe from their labors. When all was said and done, about a million worshipers would travel to Yerushalayim to celebrate the Passover.

So, just as He had done every spring since childhood, Jesus of Nazareth made the journey to Tziyon. When He arrived, our great Rabbi was ending His public ministry during the third Passover in the City of David where it began on the first Passover. Christ started His public ministry with the first cleansing of the Temple (see Bs – Jesus’ First Cleansing of the Temple at the Passover), but that had been three years ago. There was no miracle the first time He cleansed the Temple and there would be no miracle this time.

But things were different now. The stakes were higher. Jesus of Nazareth was famous. People followed Him wherever He went. His every move was scrutinized, the Pharisees and the Sadducees waited for Him to make a critical mistake that would allow them to turn public opinion against Him. Human reasoning would dictate that He should avoid controversy, and let the status quo hum along smoothly as during every other Passover. A jarring public display of temper could sour the tsunami of popularity He was riding. But Yeshua really wasn’t there to win a popularity contest. He was there to do His Father’s business.

Yeshua evidently marched straight into the broad open-air plaza of the Royal Stoa. The direct way for the Lord to enter ran via the majestic stairway on the Southwest corner of the Temple as King over His house.  Today it is known as Robinson’s Arch, named after the biblical scholar Edward Robinson who identified its remnants in 1938. It carried traffic up from ancient Jerusalem’s Lower Market area and over the Tyropoeon Street into the Royal Stoa. It is generally known as the most massive stone archway in antiquity.¹²⁵⁸

When Jesus entered the inside of the Royal Stoa, He could smell the animals and hear the money changers at their tables. It was built according to the plan of a basilica, or a large structure in ancient Rome. Rectangular in design, it consisted of a roofed hall entered from porticos at the ends. The hall consisted of a nave and was separated from the two side aisles by rows of columns. The nave walls rose above the aisle roofs and were constructed with windows to admit light.  It was actually an extension of the Court of the Gentiles; therefore, it was a public place that could be used for debate or business. The rabbinic description for it was called chanuth or chanuyoth in the Talmud, which means something like shop, market or shopping arcade.¹²⁵⁹

There was a flurry of activity that day inside of the Royal Stoa. There were sacrificial bulls, goats, sheep and doves to be bought, pagan money to be exchanged for Jewish half-shekels, and other ritually pure items like wine, oil, and salt to be acquired for Passover. Long lines of pilgrims waited for their chance to exchange their meager earnings for the coins minted by the wealthy Sadducees who were in charge of the Temple. Infuriated, the Rabbi from Galilee began driving out those who were buying and selling there. Without warning, He overturned the tables of the moneychangers and the benches of those selling doves sending a small fortune in coins flying in every direction (Mt 21:12; Mk 11:15; Lk 19:45). Before the Sadducees could say anything, Jesus was already at the next table, and then on to the next. He moved from the money changers tables to where the sheep were being sold. There the tables and money were flying and livestock ran loose across the broad open-air Stoa. Making no attempt to pick up the coins, the Sadducees saw their profits littering the ground. Nobody had ever seen anything like it.

Messiah was angry but not out of control. His actions were methodical and His every movement demonstrated that He feared no one, let alone the Great Sanhedrin itself. The moneychangers and the sellers of doves were irate. They must have stood there with their fists clenched staring at Him. Yet they didn’t try to stop Him.

Today there are those who assume that the conducting of any kind of business in the Temple Mount was prohibited. But nothing could be further from the truth. The Torah even mandated that the needs of the pilgrims coming for the festivals needed to be met so they could worship properly. At that time it could be quite a hardship if you were traveling from abroad with several wagons full of produce. However, the Torah provided a logical adaptation: If the distance is too great for you, so that you are unable to transport [your tithe], because the place where ADONAI chooses to put His name is too far away from you; then, when ADONAI your God prospers you, you are to convert it into money, then take the money with you, go to the place where ADONAI your God will choose and exchange the money for anything you want . . . (Deuteronomy 14:24-26).

But merely exchanging money was not the problem because they were merely following the commandment above and provided an important service for the traveling worshipers. Greek or Roman money (bearing idols) that they brought with them had to be changed into Temple currency, or Jewish half-shekels, so they could pay the Temple tax. Therefore, the moneychangers service was necessary to convert pagan money into Jewish currency (Tractate Berakhot 8:7).

And Jesus would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through Royal Stoa (Mark 11:16). By this action He claimed to have greater authority over the Temple than that of the high priest himself (Hosea 9:15). He was, and is, Lord of the Temple. Here we see Him exercise His authority in three ways: He cleanses, possesses and safeguards the Temple.

However, something was dreadfully wrong in Royal Stoa that day as Messiah confronted the Sadducees. And as He taught them, He said: Is it not written: “My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations?” The Royal Stoa was a part of the Court of the Gentiles, which was merely the area of the Temple Mount that was accessible to Gentiles and it had been expanded to provide as many Gentiles as possible the opportunity to worship the one true God. Caiaphas had authorized the use of the Royal Stoa for the sale of ritually pure items (oil, wine, salt and approved sacrificial animals). This commercial system was set up right in the area of the Temple that had been designated for devout Gentiles to pray and was hindering Israel’s witness to the surrounding Gentile world. God had told Abraham: All the Gentile nations on the earth would be blessed through him (Genesis 18:18). This verse could actually be translated: My house will be called a house of prayer for all the Goyim, or all the Gentiles (see my commentary on Isaiah Jj – My House Will Be Called a House of Prayer for All Nations). Thus, by allowing the Royal Stoa to become a noisy, smelly public market, the Sadducees were preventing Gentiles from exercising their spiritual privilege promised them.¹²⁶⁰

But it was not only the lacking of reverence and the stumbling of the Gentiles that caused our Lord to intervene in the Temple, but also the insatiable ballooning of prices. The sacrificial animals were obviously being sold at over inflated prices. All Jews twenty years of age and up were required to pay the annual half-shekel Temple tax (Exodus 30:12-16). But they had to exchange their Greek or Roman currency (which featured human portraits, which were considered to be idolatrous) for Jewish coinage. The half-shekel was not always used in everyday commerce, but was the only coin accepted by Annas (the high priest as far as the Jews were concerned). Although a small surcharge was permitted, the sons of Annas were guilty of extortion and fraud. While the Lord, at the first cleansing of the Temple, only warned to stop turning my Father’s house into a market, but this time He went further in His accusation, saying: You have made it “a den of robbers” (Matthew 21:13; Mark 11:17; Luke 19:46 and see my commentary on Jeremiah Cb – The Temple Sermon). Consequently, the intervention of the Son of God was urgently required.¹²⁶¹

Now that was a problem and the heart of the issue. The sons of Annas were gouging the pilgrims and overcharging them for the required sacrifices and kosher items for the Passover meal. If a priest should inspect a worshiper’s lamb and found even a single blemish, the sacrifice was deemed unclean and the peasant would be forced to buy a lamb from the wealthy Sadducees. This problem is confirmed by the Talmud where a rebuke is issued to Annas and his sons who corrupted the Temple and the Sanhedrin with similar injustices (Tractate Pesachim 57a).¹²⁶² It is no wonder that the people quietly seethed when doing business with the sons of Annas.

The Temple guard was tense. They knew that arresting Jesus at that time would be completely justifiable because He had interfered with the flow of commerce and called the Temple His home – as if He were God. But a quick scan of the crowd showed that it would not be a wise thing to do. The people weren’t afraid of the Lord; they were empowered by Him. Yeshua just did something they’d wanted to do every time they stood in that long line to change their money into Temple currency, watching the corrupt sons of Annas siphon off a big chunk of their hard earned money.¹²⁶³

This corruption of the Temple represented what had happened to the nation as a whole. Judgment and cleansing would come upon the nation in AD 70,  just as it had come upon the Temple during the life of Christ.

It was no coincidence that Messiah entered the Holy Temple the day before on Sunday, the tenth of Nisan. It was the very day of choosing and inspecting a lamb for each home to celebrate the upcoming Seder on Friday, the fifteenth of Nisan (see Ix – The Examination of the Lamb). In those final days of preparation, every home would be meticulously cleaned and koshered for the holy day. In the case of the Passover, this requires the removal of all leaven from observant homes. In a spiritual sense, the removal of leaven is a picture of removing sin from our presence as well. How appropriate and prophetic that Yeshua would enter the house of God on that all-important date! Everything, especially the Holy Temple, needed to be made kosher for the Passover.¹²⁶⁴

Fearful of the renegade Rabbi, but unable to resist Him, the Jewish religious leaders, moneychangers, sacrifice-buyers and pilgrims using the Court of the Gentiles as a shortcut through Tziyon apparently all melted away. But the blind and the lame, though surely in awe of Yeshua, were not afraid of Him. Even after His dramatic display of divine indignation, those needy souls instinctively knew that the Lord’s fury was not directed at them. Just as the wicked and unrepentant can expect God’s anger, those who humbly seek His truth and His grace can expect His care. Christ’s compassion was a supreme credential of His divine kingship, not only because of the power it demonstrated but because of the gracious love it demonstrated that is so characteristic of ADONAI, but so uncharacteristic of fallen mankind. So when they approached Him, He healed them (Mattityahu 21:14).¹²⁶⁵

Even the little children were praising Jesus. But when the Pharisees and the Torah-teachers saw the wonderful things He did and the children shouting in the Temple courts, “Hosanna to the Son of David.” And then another child called out the same thing, and then another, and another. The Sadducees as always, were watching. They were indignant because the children were quoting from the Hallel, a clear messianic reference: Please, ADONAI! Save us! Please, ADONAI! Rescue us! Blessed is He who comes in the name of ADONAI. We bless you from the house of ADONAI (Psalm 118:25-26).

Then the Jewish religious leaders confronted Yeshua about the tumultuous scene. Indignantly they asked: Do you hear what these children are saying? Of course, replied Jesus. Not only did He understand what was proclaimed, but He also affirmed it as part of the prophetic picture of the coming ha-Meshiach. Then paraphrasing Psalm 8:2, He replied: Have you never read, “From the lips of children and infants you, Lord, have called forth your praise” (Matthew 21:15-16)? The Pharisees and Sadducees knew that Psalm well. It was a call for ADONAI to delight in the praise of children, then to establish a stronghold against His enemies. Then the Sadducees realized what Jesus was really saying. He was actually comparing them to the enemies of God!

Every day He was teaching in the Royal Stoa. But the Sanhedrin leaders heard this and began looking for a way to kill him. This is the first time in the synoptic gospels that the Sadducees and the Torah-teachers both conspired to kill Jesus. Yet, while the apostate religious authorities objected they could not find any way to do it, because all the people hung on His words (Mark 11:18: Luke 19:47-48; John 10:23). It seems a rather consistent theme that the messiahship of Yeshua was questioned and rejected by the religious establishment, yet affirmed by those who (like children) took an honest and simple look at Him. Such is often the case to this day.¹²⁶⁶

As the first cooking fires were being lit on the Mount of Olives, Jesus and His talmidim left and went out of the City of David and walked back to Bethany where they spent the night at the home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus (Matthew 21:17; Mark 11:19). It had been a most eventful day as the sun set.

A sacrifice pleasing to ADONAI is one that comes from a broken and contrite heart (Psalm 51:17). God does not want sacrifices where there is no true conversion of the heart. To Him these are empty. Rather, He wants people who keep justice, and do righteousness, who keep Shabbat, not profane it. He seeks those who choose things that please Him and who hold fast to the covenant (Isaiah 56:1-2 and 4; Jeremiah 7:1-15).

We are given the opportunity everyday to offer worship pleasing to God. When we choose to do what we know He desires rather than what is self-serving, we are offering pleasing sacrifices. Whenever we choose faith over doubt we please Him. Each day we need to accept the truths we read in the Scriptures about how we should live our lives. We need to be yielded to the Ruach Ha’Kodesh and allow the temple of our bodies to become houses of prayer and we will offer sacrifices pleasing to the Lord.

Holy Spirit, source of all wisdom and knowledge, reveal the truth of Yeshua to us. Help us to have a heart that loves the Father and wants to offer Him thanks and praise as a pleasing sacrifice. Selah, He is worthy.¹²⁶⁷

Jesus Curses a Fig Tree
Matthew 21:18-19a and Mark 11:12-14
Monday the eleventh of Nisan

Jesus Curses a Fig Tree DIG: When Jesus curses a fig tree, what does the fig tree represent? Why did the fact that Yeshua found nothing but leaves mean it was barren? Did Christ curse all Jewish generations or just that specific generation? How does the acted-out parable of the barren fig tree relate to the cleansing of the Temple (to see link click Iv – Jesus Entered the Temple Area and Drove Out All Who Were Buying and Selling)? Where did Yeshua go immediately afterwards?

REFLECT: If you were a tree, what would help you produce more fruit: Pruning? Watering? Staking? Transplanting? Fertilizing? Why? How might this acted-out parable relate to your relationship with Yeshua? What does producing spiritual fruit mean to you (Galatians 5:22-23)? What does a lack of spiritual fruit in your life mean? When Jesus looks at your life, does He fruit, or nothing but leaves?

It is dawn, and very early in the morning before breakfast. Jesus and His apostles are already on the move, walking purposefully from Bethany on their way back to Jerusalem and the Master was hungry (Matthew 21:18; Mark 11:12).

Seeing a fig tree blooming in the distance, Jesus went down the road to find out if it had any fruit. The fig tree represents Isra’el (Hosea 9:10; Nahum 3:12; Zech 3:10). Just as the presence of fruit on the fig tree represented blessing and prosperity, the absence of fruit was a symbol of judgment and poverty. When He reached it, common property by the roadside, He found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs (Matthew 21:19a; Mark 11:13). It was a perfect symbol of Isra’el, full of promise but producing nothing. It was just a few months earlier in Perea that Christ had spoken of the parable of the barren fig tree (to see link click Hh – Unless You Repent, You Will Perish). Now He made use of this barren fig tree to reinforce the lesson of warning as well as illustrate this acted-out parable.¹²⁵³ However, the fact that the fig tree had leaves on it gives us a clue. To this day in Isra’el when the leaves come out in late March, they are accompanied with little buds or nodules that are eatable. Micah calls them the early figs (Micah 7:1). Later on in late May or early June the buds ripen and turn into figs. So when the leaves came out, the absence of the buds meant that the fig tree would produce no fruit that year.

The fig tree is an apt symbol of the Jewish people, as the prophet said: “When I found Israel, it was like finding grapes in the desert; when I saw your ancestors, it was like seeing the early fruit on the fig tree. But when they came to Baal Peor, they consecrated themselves to that shameful idol and became as vile as the thing they loved (Hosea 9:10). ADONAI’s loving relationship is beautifully portrayed as finding the best fruit of the early harvest. In Hosea’s day, the prophet lamented that Isra’el did not have the fresh spiritual fruit that God had a right to expect. But, the unproductive fig tree symbolized that Jewish generation’s spiritual barrenness despite divine favor and the impressive outward appearance of their religious system. It was supposed to bear fruit, but it did not; therefore, as a result of making a false profession, like the Pharisees, it was cursed (Jeremiah 8:13; Hosea 9:10-17).¹²⁵⁴

Then He said to the fig tree: May no one ever eat fruit from you again (Matthew 21:19a; Mark 11:14a)! If Yeshua’s cursing and drying up the fig tree had been an irritable reaction to disappointment because He couldn’t satisfy His hunger, it would be unworthy of anyone, let alone the Messiah. But Jesus was making a point by means of an acted-out parable. Other examples of acted-out parables in the TaNaKh include Jeremiah, who brought and then broke a clay jar in front of some of the elders of the people and of the priests (see Jeremiah Cz – Judah is Like a Broken Jar), and Ezeki’el, who made and then burned up a model of Zion (Eze 4-5). In the New Covenant, we see this acted-out parable in Acts 21:10-11.¹²⁵⁵

In this incident, then, we have Jesus pronouncing the same judgment on Isra’el that John the Immerser had done when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, saying to them, “Produce fruit in keeping with repentance” (see Bf – You Brood of Vipers, Who Warned You to Flee the Coming Wrath). Like the leafy tree, they had given external evidence of being fruitful but on examination they were seen to be barren and fruitless. Consequently, judgment had come to that specific generation.¹²⁵⁶

And His apostles heard Him say it (Mark 11:14b). To all outward appearances; however, this fig tree remained the same as they moved on down the road toward the City of David. What did the Master mean anyway? They wondered . . . but kept silent.

After this teaching, Jesus walked straight to the Temple. It had been three years since He had turned over the moneychangers’ tables (see Bs – Jesus’ First Cleansing of the Temple at the Passover), but now He planned to do it again. Only this time He has no whip fashioned out of cords, and He is no longer an unknown Rabbi. This episode and the cleansing of the Temple signifies Isra’el’s impending  judgment for religious hypocrisy. Isra’el claimed to bear fruit, but there was none.

Jesus’ Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem
as the Passover Lamb
Mt 21:1-11 and 14-17; Mk 11:1-11; Lk 19:29-44; Jn 12:12-19
Sunday the tenth of Nisan

Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem as the Passover lamb DIG: Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem was very important. Why did the people celebrate Yeshua’s entrance into Jerusalem? Why did Messiah weep when He saw Tziyon while all the people were praising Him? Why did Jesus come riding a donkey’s colt instead of a stallion? In light of the response He received, what were the crowds’ expectations? What does Yeshua’s response to the Pharisee imply about Him?

REFLECT: What part of the crowd do you stand with today? Have your ideas about Christ come from what others have said or from your own personal relationship with Him? Have you personally welcomed Jesus into your life with the words, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of ADONAI?” How can time spent with the Lord minimize our feelings of disappointment with God? What convinced you that Jesus is your King?

Singing at the Temple: This particular day for Isra’el was the Sunday of all days. From the Talmud Tractate tamid we know exactly which Psalm would have been sung on which day of the week in connection with the daily burnt offering in the Temple. It is astonishing how closely each of the Psalms coincides with the singing of these daily readings. In addition, it is amazing how the daily psalms coincide exactly with the daily events during the Holy Week.¹²⁴¹ So as Yeshua ha-Meshiach triumphantly entered Tziyon in fulfillment of Zechariah 9:9, exactly on the day that the Levitical choir with instrumental accompaniment from the Temple orchestra, sang:

The earth is ADONAI’s, with all that is in it, the world and those who live there; for He set its foundation on the seas and established it on the rivers. Who may go up to the mountain of ADONAI? Who can stand in His holy place? Those with clean hands and pure hearts, who don’t make vanities the purpose of their lives or swear oaths just to deceive. They will receive a blessing from ADONAI and justice from God, who saves them. Such is the character of those who seek Him, of Jacob, who seeks Your face. Lift up your heads, you gates! Lift them up, everlasting doors, so that the glorious King can enter! Who is He, this glorious King? ADONAI, strong and mighty, ADONAI, mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, you gates! Lift them up, everlasting doors, so that the glorious King can enter! Who is He, this glorious King? ADONAI the Lord of heaven’s armies – He is the glorious King (Psalm 24:1-10 CJB).

The messianic ministry of Yeshua and the twelve apostles had taken a rather roundabout route in the previous months. From northern Galilee, across the Jordan River to Perea, down to the ancient city of Jericho, crowds continued to flock to see and hear the popular Rabbi from Nazareth. Tziyon drew them to herself like a magnet. When the rabbis thought of their City in her glory, they said, “The world is like an eye. The ocean surrounding the world is the white of the eye; its black is the world itself, the pupil is Jerusalem; but the image within the pupil is the Sanctuary.”¹²⁴² It was the place where Melchizedek went out to meet Abraham (Genesis 14:18-20); it was Moriah, the mount on which the sacrifice of Isaac had been offered (Genesis 22:1-19). Here Solomon had built the first Temple (First Kings 6:1-38). So naturally, the talmidim were full of excitement as they approached Zion.

Isra’el had rejected the messiahship of Jesus about a year and a half earlier (to see link click Ek – It is only by Beelzebub, the Prince of Demons, that This Fellow Drives out Demons). Because of her national rejection, Yeshua declared the generation of His day guilty of the “unpardonable sin.” From that point forward, Isra’el fell subject to the judgment that would come in 70 AD. Furthermore, the Lord’s offer of the Kingdom to that generation of Jews was rescinded and would be re-offered to a later Jewish generation (see my commentary on Revelation Ev – The Basis for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ).

The Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem was not for the purpose of Jesus offering Himself as King, because that had already been decided by His national rejection. Its purpose was to set Himself aside as the Lamb of God for the Passover sacrifice. Yeshua knew that this final Pesach of His life would provide a complete and sufficient atonement for sin by virtue of His substitutionary death (Luke 22:14-16).

As the road took them up the eastern approach from Jericho to Jerusalem, they came to the area of the Mount of Olives and then to Bethany. After spending a restful Shabbat at the home of Miryam, Martha and Lazarus, Yeshua was ready to declare Himself as the long awaited Meshiach. This was His hour. Christ’s whole life had pointed to that moment when He would ride into Zion and declare Himself the King of the Jews.

Christ’s entry into Jerusalem took place on a specific date on the Jewish calendar. It was the tenth day of the Jewish month of Nisan. Exodus 12:3-6 tells us that day was to be set aside for close inspection of the Passover lambs (see my commentary on Exodus Bw – Christ and the Passover). Then they would be slaughtered starting at noon on the fourteenth of Nisan, and then eaten at the Seder that evening on the fifteenth of Nisan. This testing of the Lamb took place Sunday through Thursday. It was no coincidence that Yeshua entered Jerusalem on the very day that the lambs were being chosen. During those five days, Jesus, the Lamb of God (see my commentary on Revelation Cf – You Are Worthy To Take the Scroll), was tested to prove that He was without blemish or defect (First Peter 1:19).

Jesus sent two of His talmidim from Bethany, saying to them: Go up to [Bethphage] (the smaller and lesser known of the two villages) ahead of you, and just as you enter it you will find a colt tied there that no one has ever ridden. The colt was unbroken, had never been ridden, as befitting an animal dedicated to a sacred purpose. Our Lord was also buried in a tomb where no one was ever laid. These claims to uniqueness forcibly contrasted with His usual descent into the circumstances of an ordinary human life.¹²⁴³ He continued to direct the two apostles, saying: Untie the colt and bring it here. If anyone asks you, “Why are you untying it?” say, “The Lord needs it, and He will send it right back here shortly” (Mt 21:1-3; Mk 11:1-3; Lk 19:29-31). The two of them went ahead to Bethphage. Their ultimate destination would be two miles up over the crest of the Mount of Olives, down into the Kidron Valley and up again to the golden city of Jerusalem.

This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet: Say to the daughter of Tziyon, Look! Your King is coming to you, riding humbly on a donkey’s colt, the offspring of a beast of burden (Matthew 21:4-5 CJB; John 12:15; Isaiah 62:11; Zechariah 9:9). The rabbis debated the many possibilities by which Meshiach would come to Isra’el. The following quote stresses two distinct ways the Messiah might appear: Rabbi Alexandri said: Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi cast together two verses. It is written, “And behold, one like a son of man came with the clouds of heaven,” and it is written, “Humble, and riding on a colt!” Therefore, the rabbi deduced that if Isra’el [is worthy of God’s salvation] Messiah will come “with the clouds of heaven.” But if Isra’el [is not worthy of God’s salvation] Meshiach will come “riding on a colt.”¹²⁴⁴

Without realizing it, Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi gave the nation of Isra’el a glimpse of the possibility that there might actually be two appearances of the Messiah. The rabbis believe there will be two Messiah’s not two appearances. They teach that Meshiach ben Joseph will come to suffer and die, then at a later date Meshiach ben David will come to establish His messianic Kingdom (see Mv – The Jewish Concept of Two Messiah’s). In a rather ironic sense, Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi was somewhat correct without even realizing it. The Lamb of God did come the first time and the nation of Isra’el was not worthy of God’s salvation because she rejected and crucified His one and only Son; and the Lion of the Tribe of Judah will come a second time with the clouds of heaven (see my commentary on Revelation Ai – Look, He is Coming With the Clouds).

Every detail worked out just as their Rabbi had predicted. They went and found a donkey, with her colt next to her outside in the street, tied at a doorway just as Jesus had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “What are you doing? Why are you untying the colt?” They answered as Christ had told them to, and the people let them go (Mark 11:4-6; Luke 19:32-34). The fact that they were satisfied with the answer of the talmidim, shows that Yeshua was well known in the neighborhood (John 11). They knew that He could be trusted and were probably proud of the fact their colt would be used by Him.

They brought the colt back to Bethany as the Lord had requested, and placed their robes on it and Jesus sat on the colt in fulfillment of Zechariah 9:9. Many people spread their robes on the road, while many others spread branches they had cut in the fields (Matthew 21:6-8; Mark 11:7-8; Luke 19:35-36; John 12:14). What a contrast! King Messiah was not arriving on the victorious white horse of a military commander, or with the pomp and circumstance of an earthly king. He was a King, yet riding on a humble colt! This was a perfect picture of the entire life of Jesus as the Servant of the LORD.¹²⁴⁵

The rising of Lazarus from the dead had rekindled the hope of the masses. Now the crowd that was with Him when He called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word (John 12:17). As a result, when Jesus left from Bethany on the colt that no one had ever ridden, a stream of worshipers went with Him and His talmidim continuing up the Mount of Olives to Bethphage. It was a little over a mile.

Then, coming from the other direction, many people were going up from Jerusalem toward Bethany because they had heard that He had given this miraculous sign of Lazarus, and went out to meet Him (John 12:18). It was Pesach, and the expectations of the Jewish people that Messiah would return on Passover were extremely high.

It was at that point that two streams of people met at Bethphage, one coming from Bethany and the other coming up from Jerusalem. We can only imagine how the fire would leap from heart to heart. When He came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the crowds that went ahead of Him from Jerusalem, and those that followed from Bethany, began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen (Mattityahu 21:9a; Mark 11:9a; Luke 19:37). The multitude that had come from the City was mostly from Galilee and Gentile counties because many of the people of Zion were bitterly hostile to Christ. The multitude of those coming from outside the City could be dangerous to the apostate religious leaders in Yerushalayim.¹²⁴⁶

Gradually, the long procession swept up over the ridge where the descent begins down the front side of the Mount of Olives towards Tziyon. At this point the first view of the southeast corner of Jerusalem could be seen. The slope of the Mount of Olives on the right hid the Temple and the more northern portions of the City. As the road descends, the glimpse of the golden City is again hidden behind the ridge of the Mount of Olives. A few moments later and the path rises again, it climbs a rugged ascent. Continuing, it reaches a ledge of smooth rock and in a short time the whole city bursts into view. There is little doubt that this rise and turn in the road, this rocky ledge, was the exact point where the procession paused again.

As Yeshua approached Zion and saw the City, He wept over it (Luke 19:41). In His moment of triumph, He was in agony. The weeping here is loud with deep sobs as there was before He raised Lazarus. Messiah saw things that the rest of them could not see. The contrast was indeed terrible between the City seen by the others around Him with all its beauty, glory and security, and Jerusalem that He saw in vision dimly rising on the horizon. Jesus could see the camp of the enemy encircle Jerusalem and hem her in on every side, hugging closer and closer in a deadly embrace. The Jewish historian Josephus gives us the sordid details (see Mt – The Destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 AD).

Seeing this near historical scene through His eyes alone, Jesus sat silently and sad among the excited masses, the trail of tears over Jerusalem streaming down His face. Finally, full of emotion, He said: If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace – but now it is hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side (Luke 19:42-43). They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. Always guarding against the possibility of uncleanness, no dead body could remain within the City walls overnight; no tombs were there, except those of the house of David and the prophetess Huldah. Not even domestic chickens might be kept, nor vegetable gardens be planted, lest the smell of decaying vegetation should defile the air, and no furnaces could be built for fear of smoke.¹²⁴⁷ Yet when judgment came, the City of David would be choked with dead bodies. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you (Luke 19:44). Notice that this was no re-offering of the Kingdom. Rather, when He speaks, His words are words of judgment on unfaithful Isra’el (Hosea 9:10-17). That judgment would be fulfilled in 70 AD with the destruction of Yerushalayim.

What the people said and what they did indicated that they believed that Jesus was riding into Jerusalem to set up His Messianic Kingdom. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut palm branches from the palm trees and spread them on the road (Matthew 21:8; Mark 11:8; Luke 19:36). This is what you do on Sukkot: On the first day you are to take choice fruit from the trees, and palm fronds, leafy branches and poplars and rejoice before the Lord your God (Leviticus 23:40). The Messianic Kingdom will be fulfilled by the feast of Booths. The large crowd made the same mistake that Peter made at the mountain of Transfiguration (see Gb – Jesus Took Peter, James and John up a Mountain where He was Transfigured). In effect, they were saying, “The Kingdom is here, so let’s break out the palm branches, chant the Hallel as we celebrate the fulfillment of Sukkot.” It wasn’t even the time of year to celebrate Sukkot, but that didn’t matter to them. They were welcoming Jesus as the King of Isra’el no matter what time of year it was.

Three times Jesus’ twelve apostles had been told of His death. So at first they did not understand all this. Only after Christ was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about Him and that these things had been done to Him (John 12:16).

The people were thinking of a military conquest. It had the look of a royal Roman procession coming back from a victorious campaign. Only two previous times had palm branches been put down before a Jewish victor. First, it was Simon Maccabeus when he cleansed the Temple (First Maccabees 13:51), and secondly, Judas Maccabeus when he expelled the Gentiles from the Temple (Second Maccabees 10:7). It was also reminiscent of the respect shown to King Jehu when the people took their cloaks and spread them on the road before him.

Now the crowd that was with Christ when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word. Many people, because they had heard that He had performed this sign, went out to meet Him. Not everyone bowed down. A group of “separated ones” had been waiting for Jesus and looking on with disgust. So the Pharisees said to one another, “See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after Him” (John 12:17-19)! The Nazarene had powerful enemies within the very walls of Jerusalem herself.

The great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem (John 12:12). Yeshua coaxed the colt forward. Step by careful step, He descended the Mount of Olives, crossed the Kidron Valley, as He traveled through the tunnel of worshipers. The Son of God rode majestically up the hill and into the golden City.

When Jesus entered the City of David, the whole city was stirred and asked: Who is this? They were stunned, and shaken to the core. The crowds offered a simple yet profound response: This is Yeshua, the prophet (note the definite article) from Nazareth in Galilee (Mattityahu 21:10-11). This is a reference to the words of the Torah that exhorted all Isra’el to be on watch for a special prophet who would be even greater than Moses himself (Deuteronomy 18:18-19).

The excitement about Lazarus’ resurrection is undoubtedly an explanation for the unprecedented enthusiasm that the large crowd of people displayed on Palm Sunday when they greeted Jesus as King Messiah. They took palm branches and went out to meet Him (John 12:13a). These are things you would say at the festival of Sukkot, not Pesach. In the four gospels, there are a total of seven greetings. They were shouting:

Hosanna (John 12:13b), which means Please, save (Psalm 118:25a). It is significant to note the play on words in Hebrew – the root word for save, or hoshia, has the same root as the name of the one entering Jerusalem.

With cries of joy, the crowd welcomed Yeshua as the Son of David!

Hosanna in the highest heaven, means save us now, O God who lives in the heavens,

Peace in heaven and glory in the highest,

Blessed is the King of Isra’el, focusing on His kingship (John 12:13d), and

Blessed is the coming Kingdom of our father David (Second Samuel 7:11-14).

With cries of joy, the crowd welcomed Jesus with the famous greeting: Blessed is He who comes in the name of ADONAI (John 12:13c) is the official messianic greeting. The rabbis taught that whenever the Messiah comes, He must be welcomed with these very words. This comes from the messianic Psalm 118:26. This phrase was used often as the priests addressed each other in their Temple service. Here it is has larger messianic implications as the crowds acknowledge Yeshua as ha-Meshiach able to bring about the ultimate deliverance of Isra’el.¹²⁴⁸

Every Jew longed for the coming of the Messiah. They believed that when He came, Rome would be defeated and Jews would be free from taxation and want. Roman soldiers would no longer be allowed to corral them like cattle, then stab and beat them until the gutters of their Holy City choked with Jewish blood. For these people, this hope was like a lifeline, giving them courage to face Rome’s unyielding cruelty. Only the Meshiach could lead them. The prophets promised that such a man would come and they believed with all their hearts that Yeshua was the Anointed One.¹²⁴⁹ But some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Rabbi, rebuke Your disciples!” I tell you, He replied: if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out (Luke 19:39-40). He accepted the praise of the people because He was and is the Messiah.

The blind and the lame came to Him and He healed them (Matthew 21:14). Messiah’s majestic display of divine compassion was accompanied by a mighty expression of divine power. No sooner had the blind and the lame approached Him for help than He healed them. Only God can restore sight to eyes totally destroyed by disease, as many blind eyes were in that day. And only God can replace shattered limbs and shattered lives beyond repair.

But instead of joining in the worship of the Anointed One, when the Pharisees and the Torah-teachers saw the wonderful things He did and the children shouting in the Temple courts, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they were indignant. The word indignant carries with it the idea of fury and wrath. To those men, Jesus’ healing power was only accomplished through the power of Beelzebub, the Prince of Demons and was repugnant. Instead of recognizing authority of the phony Pharisees, Christ condemned their self-righteousness. “Do you hear what these children are saying?” they asked Him. He simply replied, “Yes.” He was fully aware of what was being said, and He was fully aware of its meaning and significance. But, He went on to ask the learned men, have you never read, “From the lips of infants and nursing babes you, Lord, have called forth your praise” (Matthew 21:15-16)? Jesus was quoting from Psalm 8:2, and the two Hebrew words infants and nursing babes refer to children under three years, the age at which most were weaned. The Master Teacher’s point was that even if tiny infants and nursing babes would be prepared to give praise to Himself, how much more could they praise Him?¹²⁵⁰

Jesus went into the Temple courts. He looked around at everything. But since it was already late He and His talmidim retraced their steps back out of Jerusalem, past the tent camps on the Mount of Olives, where trampled palm leaves and olive branches still littered the dirt road, back to the city to Bethany where they spent the night (Mattityahu 21:17; Mark 11:11). Even though the crowd made it clear that they wanted Him to be their king and treated His arrival as a prelude to His coronation, Yeshua neither said nor did anything to encourage that sentiment.¹²⁵¹

Often times God surprises us or disappoints us because our expectations of Him do not correspond with His will or with ultimate reality. We may have strong ideas (and wrong ideas) about how life should unfold. But then we crash head-on into God’s purposes and confusion sets in. The solution to this common dilemma is to surrender our opinions and hopes about what God’s perfect plan should be and concentrate on what is. Spend time getting to know the Lord firsthand. When we do this, and when we then approach the situations of life with an open mind and a yielded spirit, we are able to avoid needless disappointments. Remember ADONAI isn’t whatever we want Him to be. He is who He is. And He will do what He will do.

Lord, so many people were right there. They stood near You and watched You, yet they missed You! They allowed false expectations and the reports of others to keep them from a personal relationship with You. Don’t let me make this same mistake. Stir me up so that I will pursue You with passion and come to know You as You truly are.¹²⁵²

Jesus Came to Bethany, Where Lazarus Lived,
Whom Jesus Had Raised From the Dead
John 11:55 to 12:1 and 9-11

Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead DIG: What was the mikvah? Why was it necessary? What were its stipulations? Why is baptism a stumbling block for many messianic Jews to put their faith in Yeshuaas the Messiah? How is the mikvah like a rebirth? Why did Jesus go to Bethany? Why were the common people looking for Christ? Why was the presence of Lazarus particularly embarrassing to the Sadducees? What was their plan?

REFLECT: How do Messiah’s words and actions in this passage comfort you? How has God helped you during a sad or disappointing time? How can you share the pain of others who suffer? How can I surrender past hurts and disappointments to ADONAI?

When it was almost time for Pesach, many Jewish pilgrims went up from the surrounding country to the Holy City of Yerushalayim for their ceremonial cleansing before the Passover (John 11:55). This is the fourth of four Passovers mentioned in the ministry of Christ. The first is mentioned in John 2:13. The second is in John 5:1, while the third is referred to in John 6:4, and the fourth in John 11:55, here in 12:1, and also in 13:1, 18:28 and 39, and 19:14. By dating these, we are able to conclude that this was the fourth Passover in the three and a half years of Christ’s ministry.¹²³⁷

The purification process was vital for them to properly celebrate the Passover. It created a physical and emotional state of mind that prepared them to embrace the holiness of ADONAI. So most arrived in the Holy City almost a week before the holy day. Both men and women would immerse in the mikvah, a bath taken for ritual purification purposes, then the men would refrain from having sex with their wives until after the Passover, believing the act of ejaculation makes the body impure. Similarly, menstruating women would be unable to immerse in the mikvah and would also be forbidden from entering the Temple grounds. Touching a dead body or even having their shadow reach a dead body also rendered a person impure and unable to celebrate the Passover.

Most of us messianic Jews have had to overcome many barriers to arrive at our personal faith in Yeshua as the Messiah. One such example was probably the perception of baptism, which often has been considered a sign of a Jew’s “conversion” to the church world. Even the Greek term sounds so foreign to the Jewish ear. Yet, like so many New Testament customs, baptism is thoroughly Jewish in its roots. The term “baptidzo” is a direct translation of the Hebrew term “tevilah” meaning “to dip or immerse.” In this original context we can understand that there are many different types of immersions in traditional Judaism. These immersions have normally taken place in the special pool called the mikveh meaning a collection of waters.

According to rabbinic tradition, a kosher mikveh must contain enough water for full bodily immersion (about 120 gallons) and this water must be “living waters”; that is, fresh water that comes from a natural source and not piped. There is considerable debate about what percentage of the mikveh must contain the living waters. Many authorities agree that a swimming pool is an acceptable mikveh when there is no other specially designated place. Likewise, a river or ocean can serve as a natural place for such immersion. In the Torah, there were various occasions that called for a mikveh ceremony such as when there were healings, a childbirth or preparation for priestly service (Leviticus 12-16). In the laws of family purity, a married woman must go through a sexual separation (Nidah) during her monthly period until the time where she takes a mikveh to symbolize her ritual cleansing (Leviticus 15:19-24). The rabbis teach that another case for mikveh is for a Gentile convert to symbolize their true repentance. Of course, many of the biblical cases cannot apply to modern society as there is no functioning Temple or priesthood. Still, the tradition of mikveh is followed in religious communities for the purposes of Nidah, Gentile conversion and to some extent to prepare for the holy days.¹²³⁸

Despite all of these external details, one should not miss the spiritual picture which mikveh illustrates. As one modern Jewish commentator put it, “One interpretation of the mikveh relates it to an experience of death and resurrection, and also to the re-entry into the womb and reemergence. Immersing fully, you are like the fetus in the womb, and when you come up out of the mikveh you are as reborn” (Yitzak Buxbaum, Jewish Spiritual Practices, p.569).

So even before the pilgrims saw Yerushalayim, they were mentally preparing for the week to come. Anticipating the aroma of roast lamb that will hang over the City as the Passover feasts are being cooked, the pilgrims count their money, worrying about how they will pay for the feast and the inevitable taxes they will have to pay in Jerusalem. Despite their sore feet and aching legs from walking long distances through the wilderness, the travelers would be transformed by the magnetic pull of the Heavenly City. Their thoughts were no longer set on their farms back home and the barley crop that needed to be harvested immediately on their return, but on holiness and purity. Soon they would ascend the hill known as the Mount of Olives and look down upon the heart-stopping sight of the City of David in all its glory. The Temple would gleam white and gold, and the mighty walls of the Temple Mount would be amazing. The utter splendor of the House of God would remind them that they had arrived at the center of Jewish life.¹²³⁹

They kept looking for Jesus, and as they stood in the Temple courts they asked one another, “What do you think? Isn’t He coming to the festival at all?” In other words, “Since He knows the Sanhedrin seeks His death, will He disobey the Torah and not show up in order to save His skin? The Sadducees and the Pharisees had given orders that anyone who found out where Jesus was should report it so that they might arrest Him (John 11:56-57). His official rejection had been filtering down to the masses and those who would be asking for His death would be steadily growing during the week.

After arriving from Jericho six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany and spent the Sabbath there quietly preparing for the dramatic week to come (to see link click Ix – The Examination of the Lamb). Bethany was where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead (Yochanan 12:1). Jerusalem was a short two-mile walk from the village of Bethany. They stayed at the home of Lazarus and his sisters Mary and Martha. It would be their base throughout the Passover week, and where Yeshua and His talmidim would return most nights with the assurance of a hot meal and easy rest. This was the fourth Passover in the three and a half years of Christ’s ministry.

Meanwhile a large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was there and came, not only because of Him but also to see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead. When the pilgrims made known Christ’s arrival at Bethany, many common people from Galilee and other parts flocked out from the City to see the maverick Rabbi. They wanted to see Lazarus also, who had been four days in the tomb. A miracle like this had never been seen before in human history. After Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead the Sanhedrin had plotted to kill Yeshua (see Ib – The Plot to Kill Jesus). Now they wanted to destroy both Lazarus and the One who raised him. It is ironic that Caiaphas had already said: Don’t you realize that it’s better for one man die for the people than the whole nation perish. But one was not enough. Now it had to be two. Thus does evil grow. For the Sadducees, Lazarus was a double embarrassment. For on account of him many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and believing in Him, but he was also a standing condemnation of their doctrine. They denied the resurrection and here was a man who had lived through death!¹²⁴⁰ So the Sadducees made plans to destroy the evidence and kill Lazarus as well (Yochanan 12:9-11).

The Official Presentation of King Messiah

The Life of Christ now turns the corner toward His final days and the destiny of the cross. About seven hundred years earlier, Isaiah said it this way: Because Adonai ELOHIM will help Me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore, I will set My face like a flint towards the cross, and I know I will not be put to shame (Isaiah 50:7). The time had come for Yeshua to openly declare His messiahship. All this parallels the most holy week of Passover, which was the busiest time of the year in ancient Jerusalem. And, as we shall see, the Pesach season is also an amazing prophetic picture of the significance of Messiah’s ministry to Isra’el and to the Gentile Nations as well.¹²³⁶

Every single event of the Passion Week is not recorded in the Bible. John tells us that Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written (John 21:25). Therefore, the Holy Spirit has selected the following events which are representative of His five days of examination until He is confirmed as the Passover Lamb without defect or blemish. There are not a lot of details regarding what events took place on which five days of testing. We know the Triumphal Entry took place on Sunday, the tenth of Nisan (It), and we know that when the Pharisees refused to ask Yeshua any more questions (Jc), it was Thursday, the fourteenth of Nisan and the testing was over, so most of the other confrontations in between those days are approximations.

The Parable of the Ten Minas
Luke 19: 11-28

The parable of the ten minas DIG: In the parable of the ten minas, what misconception prompted Yeshua to tell it just before He entered Tziyon? Who is the Man of noble birth? Where did he go? Who are his servants? His enemies? What are they to do in his absence? How do they regard him? How does the master repay the first and second servants? How is the third servant’s report influenced by a faulty perception of his Master? What was his punishment?

REFLECT: What talents and resources do you think Jesus has left with you? How do you feel about the way you have “invested” them?

The one main point to the parable of the ten minas is that there will be a delay in the promised Messianic Kingdom; but when it comes, loyal subjects of the King who exercised proper stewardship of what was given to them will be rewarded, while those who would not accept His kingship will be punished.

While they were listening to this, Jesus went on to tell His talmidim a parable to correct a misconception, because He was near Yerushalayim and the people thought that the messianic kingdom of God was going to appear at once (Luke 19:11). During Christ’s earthly ministry He had offered Isra’el the Messianic Kingdom that would be established if the nation would receive Him as Lord and Savior. It was a legitimate offer. But the nation rejected Him (to see link click Ek – It is only by Beelzebub, the Prince of Demons, that This Fellow Drives Out Demons) so the Kingdom had to be postponed. They had no idea for how long the delay would be because the Church Age (see my commentary on Hebrews – The Dispensation of Grace) was a mystery to them (Ephesians 5:32).

Christ had previously taught that the generation of His day would not see the Kingdom (Luke 17:22) because it would be postponed indefinitely to some future time. The Lord’s words did not negate the concept of a genuine offer of the Kingdom in His day, nor deny the concept of a literal Kingdom in a future day. Rather, this parable was designed to teach the truth concerning the postponement of the messianic Kingdom.¹²³⁰ Like the man of noble birth, Jesus will receive His Kingdom, but He will also entrust His loyal servants with much and expect a good return on all that He invested in them.¹²³¹

The first scene: He said: The nobleman clearly represents Jesus. Because the Twelve and the people thought the Kingdom was to be set up immediately, Yeshua said the nobleman in the parable went to a distant country to have Himself appointed king and then to return. Jesus would have to leave before His Kingdom was set up. So before leaving the nobleman called ten of His servants and gave them ten minas, one apiece. A mina was about three months wages so its value was considerable. They were to invest the money while the nobleman was gone. “Put this money to work,” he said, “until I come back” (Luke 19:12-13).

But some of His subjects hated him and sent a delegation (see Lg – The Great Sanhedrin) after him to say, “We don’t want this man to be our king” (Luke 19:14). Obviously, this group represented pharisaic Judaism in particular and the nation of Isra’el in general. With this the first scene ends.

The second scene: He was made king, however, and returned home after a long time. What is emphasized here is his kingly authority, not a territory per se. Then he sent for the servants to whom he had given the money, in order to find out what they had gained with it (Luke 19:15).

The first one came and said, “Sir, your mina has earned ten more.” “Well done, my good servant!” His master replied. “Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of ten cities” (Luke 19:16-17).

The second came and said, “Sir, your mina has earned five more.” His master answered, “You take charge of five cities” (Luke 19:18-19).

Then another (Greek: heteros, meaning another of a different kind) servant came and said, “Sir, here is your mina that you gave me; I have kept it laid away in a piece of cloth. I was afraid of you, because you are a hard man. You take out what you did not put in and reap what you did not sow” (Luke 19:20-21). The wicked servant defended his behavior on the grounds of the nobleman’s being a hard man. The hard quality is then described as taking an unusually high margin of profit from his investments and reaping a harvest that others had produced. In his defense the wicked servant sought to paint a negative picture of the nobleman’s character. Readers of the story, however, would know this was incorrect because of his generosity in verses 17 and 19.¹²³²

His master replied, “I will judge you by your own words, you wicked servant! You knew, did you, that I am a hard man, taking out what I did not put in, and reaping what I did not sow? Why then didn’t you put my money on deposit, so that when I came back, I could have collected it with interest” (Luke 19:22-23)? If the wicked subject was correct in his assessment of his master (which he wasn’t), then he should have at least put the money in the bank. Then the king would have at least received his money back with interest. The implication was that the subject did not really believe that the king would come back. He was not at all concerned about the king’s return so he did not bother with the king’s business. He was one of the subjects who hated him and didn’t want the nobleman to be his king (Luke 19:14).¹²³³

Then the nobleman said to those standing by, “Take his mina away from him and give it to the one who has ten minas,” the one who had done the most for the king. “Sir,” they said, “he already has ten!” He replied, “I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but as for the one who has nothing, even what they have will be taken away (Luke 19:24-26). The one who served faithfully is rewarded with even more.

The third scene: Jesus must have looked around at the long-bearded hypocritical Pharisees present in His audience and continued with the parable. The king said,“But those enemies of mine who rebelled and did not want me to be king over them – bring them here and kill them in front of me” (Luke 19:27). In contrast with the two servants who had expected his return, the enemies of the king were put to death in his presence. The ones who practice lawlessness will be excluded. At that time Jesus will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers” (Matthew 7:23)! The analogy of this parable was clear to Jesus’ hearers. Messiah was going away to receive a kingship. When He returned, He would establish His messianic Kingdom. Until that time His faithful servants were to fulfill the responsibilities He gave them. On His return He would reward the faithful commensurate with their service to Him, and His enemies would be judged before Him (see my commentary on Revelation Fo – The Great White Throne Judgment).¹²³⁴

After Jesus had said this, He went on ahead, going up the seventeen miles to the City He had just prophesied against (Luke 19:28).

What have we done with the gifts and talents God has given us? Have we nurtured them through prayer and action? Have we allowed the Ruach Ha’Kodesh to purify us and conform us into the image of Christ? Are we working with Him in ministry, while He is preparing a home for us in heaven? It is both a high privilege and a demanding calling: to love and worship God and to love and serve others. Because we are working in our Father’s kingdom, we do not work with purely human wisdom or human effort. As His faithful servants, our reward will be based on the stewardship of the gifts He has given us.

Father, help us to surrender our human wisdom so that Your wisdom may blossom within us. We willingly embrace the way in which You have called us to serve. Holy Spirit, multiply our gifts in us and empower us, that Your glory will be made obvious to everyone we meet.¹²³⁵

Zacchaeus the Tax Collector
Luke 19: 1-10

Zacchaeus the tax collector DIG: How does Zacchaeus compare to the young rabbinical student (to see link click Il – The Rich Young Ruler) in his approach to Yeshua? In his response? Why do you think Jesus invited Himself to Zakkai’s house for dinner? Why does this bother others? What impresses you about Zacchaeus? Do you think Messiah’s words in verses 9-10 stopped the people’s muttering? Why or why not? How does Christ confirm Zacchaeus’ salvation?

REFLECT: Where did Jesus first find you: Up a tree? Out on a limb? How did He get you to come down: A little coaxing? A big scare? An invitation you couldn’t refuse? Suppose Yeshua were to invite Himself to your house. If every room is an area of your life, give yourself a grade for each: The library (your mind, the control room of the entire house); the dining room (appetites, desires that you feed on for nourishment); drawing room (where you draw close to ADONAI); workshop (where your spiritual gifts and talents are put to work for God); rumpus room (the social area of your life); and the hall closet (a secret place that is a stumbling block to your walk with the Lord).

As our Messiah traveled and ministered across the Jordan in Perea on His way to the Holy City for Pesach, a large crowd of pilgrims followed Him (Matthew 20:29b). His fame had spread throughout Palestine. Not long before this, He had raised Lazarus from the dead. That happened in Bethany, not far from Jericho. Word had spread, and people were curious about the prophet of Nazareth. Everyone in Yericho who could move lined the streets in preparation for the Master passing through. The city was buzzing and energetic. Was He the Meshiach? Was He coming to defeat the Romans and set up His Kingdom?

Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy (Luke 19:1-2). The road from Jericho to Yerushalayim ascends about 3,000 feet in 17 miles. Jericho was an international crossroad, located where the main trade routes north, south, east and west all come together. The customs house there, where taxes were collected, was a busy place.

There were two kinds of tax collectors, the Gabbai and the Mokhes. The Gabbai were general tax collectors. They collected property tax, income tax, and the poll tax. These taxes were set by official assessments, so not as much could be skimmed off the top from these. The Mokhes, however, collected on imports and exports, goods for domestic trade, and virtually anything that was moved by road. They set tolls on roads and bridges, taxed beasts of burden and axles on transport wagons, and charged tariffs on parcels, letters, or whatever else they could find to tax. Their assessments were often set at their discretion, and provided a way to really “stick it to ‘em”!

Mokhes consisted of the Great Mokhes and the Little Mokhes. A Great Mokhe stayed behind the scenes and hired others to collect taxes for him. Mattityahu was apparently a Little Mokhe – “a tax collector” (to see link click Cp – The Calling of Matthew). Zakkai was apparently a Great Mokhe, or the chief tax collector, who was in charge of Jericho’s customs house and hence tried to stay behind the scenes. But everyone knew who he was.

The whole community despised Zacchaeus. Luke 19:7 tells us that everyone called him a sinner. So it seems that not only was he a dreaded tax collector, a traitor to the nation, but this probably meant that his personal character was corrupted as well. That was the case with most tax collectors. But the Savior of sinners had a special love for tax collectors. Luke especially focuses on the numerous times Yeshua encountered them. His theme is the love of our Great Rabbi for the lost, and He repeatedly portrays Christ reaching out to the outcasts of society. Every time Luke mentions a tax collector (Luke 3:12, 5:27, 7:29, 15:1, 18:10, 19:2), it is in a positive sense. These were the untouchables of the religious society – flagrant public sinners – but they were the very ones our Deliverer came to save.

It might appear that it was Zacchaeus who was seeking Jesus, but the truth is that if Jesus had not sought him, he would have never come to the Savior. No one seeks God on his or her own. There is no one who understands, there is no one who seeks God (Romans 3:11). In our natural, fallen state we are dead in our transgressions and sins (Ephesians 2:1), separated from the life of ADONAI (Ephesians 4:18), and therefore totally unable and unwilling to seek Ha’Shem. Only when the sovereign, convincing power of the Holy Spirit, touches us can we move toward Him. Therefore it is not until God begins to pursue us can we respond and seek Him. But rest assured, whenever someone seeks the LORD, He will respond in kind. We love Him because He first loved us (First John 4:19).

Nevertheless, ADONAI invites sinners to seek. Isaiah 55:6 says: Seek the LORD while He may be found; call on Him while He is near. Jeremiah 29:13 tells us: You will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. God declares in Amos 5:4, “Seek Me that you may live.” Messiah declares: Seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness (Matthew 6:33) and, Seek and you will find (Matthew 7:7). Consequently, being sought by God, Zacchaeus was seeking.¹²²⁶

Zacchaeus had heard of Jesus but apparently had never seen Him. The Great Mokhe wanted to see who Jesus was (Luke 19:3). The imperfect verb tense implies he was continually making an effort to see Messiah.Why? Curiosity? Probably. Conscience? Surely. Desire for freedom from guilt? Possibly. But more than anything, the reality that he was eventually saved points to the fact that the Ruach ha-Kodesh had begun a work in the heart of this tortured soul to draw him to Christ. Zakkai did not seek God on his own initiative, but the Spirit moved his heart. In response, he made an effort to see Yeshua.

Zakkai was an outcast, a hated man, a man whose hands were filled with money he had taken at the expense of poor people. He was a man with tremendous guilt. Yet instead of running and hiding, he desperately wanted to see Jesus. To do this, he overcame a number of obstacles. One was the crowd. Because he was short he could not see over the crowd (Luke 19:4a) because the residents of Jericho were already lining the streets. Add to that his small stature and the little man probably carefully avoided crowds. A short man would have a problem in a crowd to begin with. But a short man who was the Great Mokhes risked getting a well-placed elbow in the jaw, or even a heavy boot on the foot.

But on this day, Zacchaeus was not concerned with such things. He was not even concerned about his dignity. He was so determined to see the Galilean Rabbi that he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way (Luke 19:4b). The sycamore-fig tree was a short, fat tree with spreading branches. A little person could scamper up the trunk, get out on a limb, and hang over the road. And that was what Zakkai did. The tree offered him a perfect seat for the parade. It was not a dignified place for a man of such a high position (no pun intended), but that was not important to him on this day. Zacchaeus only wanted to see Yeshua.

What happened next must have staggered Zacchaeus. Although Christ had never met him before, when Jesus reached the spot, He looked up and said to him: Zacchaeus, come down immediately. We don’t know how Yeshua knew Zakkai’s name. Maybe people in the crowd pointed him out. Maybe Yeshua knew it through His omniscience. Clearly, however, the Lord had a divinely ordained appointment with the little man, for when He said: I must stay at your house today (Luke 19:5), it was a command, not a request. Zacchaeus’ heart was prepared according to a divine timetable.

Zakkai wanted to see the Prophet of Nazareth, but he had no idea Messiah wanted to see him. So Zacchaeus came down at once and welcomed Christ gladly (Luke 19:6). One might think that such a despicable sinner would be distressed to hear the perfect, sinless Son of God say: I must stay at your house today, but he was glad. His heart was prepared.

The reaction of the crowd was predictable. Both the religious elite and the common people looked down on Zacchaeus. When all the people saw this they began to mutter, “This Nazarene has gone to be the guest of a sinner” (Luke 19:7). They believed, as we have seen, that to go into the house of an outcast was to make oneself unclean. To eat with someone like Zakkai was the worst possible defilement. They placed no value on Zacchaeus’ soul and had no concern for his spiritual welfare. Their self-righteous eyes could only see his sin. They could not understand and would not see in their blind pride that the Savior of sinners had come to seek and save the lost, and they condemned Jesus for it. But in doing so, they also condemned themselves.

We are never told what happened at the house of Zakkai. The bible does not tell us what he served for dinner, or how long Jesus stayed, or what they talked about. Nor do we know what the Chief Shepherd said to bring Zacchaeus to salvation. The method is never the point. But we can be confident that Yeshua confronted Zakkai with his sin. The little man undoubtedly already knew what a great sinner he was. Surely Christ revealed to Zacchaeus who He really was – God in the human flesh. But whatever He said, Zakkai responded.

A curtain seems to rise near the end of their conversation and Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount” (Luke 19:8). When a person confessed to fraud and made a voluntary restitution, the Torah required such a one to return the amount stolen plus twenty percent (Leviticus 6:1-5; Numbers 5:5-7). An apprehended thief had to pay the victim double (Exodus 22:4 and 7). But a person stealing what is essential and showing no pity was required to pay back four times the amount (Exodus 22:1 and Second Samuel 12:6). Zakkai, fully repentant on the spot, not only acknowledged the heartlessness and cruelty of his behavior, but voluntarily imposed upon himself the whole restitution required by the Torah for such acts.¹²²⁷

Here was a radically changed man deciding to give half of his possessions to the poor it was a radical reversal and clear evidence his heart had been transformed. The taker had become a giver. The extortioner had become a philanthropist. He would repay those he had defrauded, and give back four times as much. His mind was changed, his heart was changed and his clear intention was to change his behavior. Had his heart changed toward people? Yes. But his heart had been changed toward God first. Consequently, ADONAI had changed him from the inside out (see Bw – What God Does for Us at the Moment of Faith).

Jesus said to him: Today salvation (Hebrew: yeshu’ah, which is the feminine form of Yeshua’s own name) has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham (Luke 19:9). So there is a play on words, Yeshua/salvation has literally come to this house. Zacchaeus was a son of Abraham not because he was Jewish, but because he believed in Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of God. Romans 2:28-29 CJB tells us: For the real Jew is not merely Jewish outwardly. Then what makes a real Jew? Romans 4:11 says Abraham is the father of all who believe. Galatians 3:7 declares that all those of faith/trust/belief are the real children of Abraham. Zacchaeus was saved by faith, not by works. But his giving half of his possessions to the poor, and repaying four times over those whom he had cheated was important evidence that his faith was real.

For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost (Luke 19:10). This was seen in Hs – The Parable of the Lost Sheep, and echoed in Ezeki’el 34:16, where ADONAI said: I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd the flock with justice. As we see in the conversion of Zakkai, the necessary result of God’s saving work is a changed person. When a soul is bought back from the spiritually dead, Christ removes your heart of stone and gives you a new heart so that you are spiritually alive (Ezeki’el 36:26). Implicit in that change of heart is the desire to please God, to obey, and to reflect His righteousness. Zacchaeus had a new heart.¹²²⁸

Jesus knows our hearts. He knows our sorrows – for He weeps with us. He knows our joys – for He rejoices with us. God knows everything about us, even our weaknesses. In fact, He uses these weaknesses to draw us to Him. He knows that when we are needy we are more open to accepting God’s love. It is in our weakness that we realize that no matter what we have done, God still loves us, still wants to speak to us. He is as close to you as your breath.

When we believe in Him and He changes our hearts, we are filled with joy because only Yeshua can fill that deepest part of our being. It is often the very situation that has caused us pain that most opens us up to Messiah: Like Zacchaeus, our desire for Christ becomes a desperation to be freed from anything that cuts us off from His presence.

Lord Jesus, we invite You into our hearts to change us. Come and fill us with the joy of your salvation. Grant us the freedom to lay at Your feet every possession or desire that we have considered more precious than You. Amen. You are worthy.¹²²⁹

Instruction Concerning the Kingdom
Luke 19: 1-28

On His way to Jerusalem to be slaughtered as the Passover Lamb, Jesus stopped at Jericho. It was a necessary resting place before entering the dangerous, rocky, robber-haunted gorge that led from there to the Holy City of  Tziyon, and formed a rough, almost continuous, climb of six hours, from 900 feet below to nearly 3,000 feet above sea level. Jericho was a Levitical city, and therefore the residence of a great many priests. In addition, its position as the center of an exceptionally productive district, and also the import and export trade between the two sides of the Jordan, also made it a city of Jewish tax collectors. They were all under the control of a local Jew named Zacchaeus. As Jesus and His talmidim made their way toward the Throne of the LORD (Jeremiah 3:17), the Twelve were sure that Messiah was going there to receive a crown, to be acknowledged as king and to institute the messianic Kingdom. It was then that Christ told them a parable in order to correct their misunderstanding.¹²²⁵

Bartimaeus Receives His Sight
Matthew 20:29-34; Mark 10:46-52; Luke 18:35-43

Bartimaeus receives his sight DIG: What is significant about the title Bartimaeus uses for Jesus as the Lord prepared to enter Jericho? How did that cry demonstrate faith that the crowd lacked? How is Bartimaeus different than the young rabbinical student (see Il – The Rich Young Ruler)? Why are these two singled out for healing? Once healed, what do they do? Why? How does this relate to the concern of the talmidim? Why is this the last miracle recorded before the Triumphal Entry?

REFLECT: Have you felt Yeshua is too busy for you? Is God out of the miracle-making business? In what ways do you feel spiritually blind? How are you less blind than you were six months ago? How has the Messiah opened your spiritual eyes? If He asked: What do you want Me to do for you? What would you say?

Jesus was now on His way to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover with His twelve talmidim. Infinitely more important than that, however, He was going to suffer and die (Matthew 20:18-19a). He would be celebrating Pesach for the last time and then give Himself as the one, final, perfect Passover Lamb, sacrificed for the sins of the world (Hebrews 7:27).

Bartimaeus was an example of how that nation of Isra’el should have responded to the Messiah. The Pharisees, Sadducees, and Torah-teachers (pharisaic Judaism in general), along with the Great Sanhedrin (to see link click Lg – The Great Sanhedrin) were all spiritually blind. They needed to cry out for help, and the nation was surely in need of it. But they did not. If they‘d only had faith in Christ, Isra’el would have been healed of her spiritual blindness.

Matthew, Mark and Luke all record Jesus’ miraculous healing of two blind men in the vicinity of Jericho. But the accounts appear to be contradictory. Mark and Luke mention only one blind man, while Matthew mentions two. And Luke records that the miracle took place as Messiah approached Jericho, while Matthew and Mark record that it took place as Jesus and His apostles were leaving Jericho. Some see a contradiction between Luke’s account, and Matthew and Mark’s rendering.

The Jewish historian Josephus actually gives us the answer. The accounts are not contradictory, but offer different details. Matthew mentions two blind men, while Mark and Luke refer to the more prominent of the two, whom Mark actually identifies as Bartimaeus. As for the relationship of the miracle to Jericho, in the life of Christ there were actually two Jericho’s, the ancient settlement and the much newer Roman town (Josephus – War 4:459).¹²¹⁹ Yeshua may have been leaving the still inhabited city of Jericho mentioned in the TaNaKh (Joshua 6; Second Kings 2:4-5, 15-18), which was located near Elisha’s spring, and approaching the B’rit Chadashah site of Jericho one mile north. It was built by Herod as the site of his winter palace, about five miles west on the banks of the Jordan river in the fertile Wadi Qelt and took advantage of the low elevation and warm weather. The name Jericho, meaning perfumed, describes the fragrant fruit trees and crops that were commonly grown there.¹²²⁰

As Jesus and His apostles were leaving the ancient city and approached the newer Roman Jericho, a large crowd of pilgrims followed Him going to the City of David for the Passover. In doing so, He put Himself under the jurisdiction of the Roman governor and the Sanhedrin. Just then, two blind men were sitting by the roadside, a common sight (no pun intended) in or near wealthy Roman city of Jericho, when they heard that Yeshua was going by (Matthew 20:29-30a; Mark 10:46a; Luke 18:35a)!

Mark focused on one, who apparently was spokesman for the two of them. Bartimaeus, an Aramaic name meaning the son of Timaeus (Hebrew: bar-Timai), was sitting by the roadside begging (Mark 10:46b). The name Bartimaeus certainly adds to the drama of this encounter, because it actually means son of the unclean. Although he was probably unknown as a blind beggar, it is possible that he later became highly respected by the early messianic community and well known to Mark and those to whom he wrote. Mark could have been saying to his readers, in effect, “And do you know who one of those blind men was? Our dear friend and brother in the Lord, Bartimaeus!”

The trampling of the feet of the crowd told Bartimaeus that something unusual was happening. Hearing that Yeshua was passing by, Bartimaeus and his friend asked what was happening. When they heard that it was the famous Jesus of Nazareth, they cried out relentlessly for His attention: Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on us (Mattityahu 20:30; Mark 10:47; Luke 18:35b-38)! This title was, and is, common for the Messiah who would be the greatest descendant of King David, thus the messianic title Meshiach ben David was often used (Tractate Sukkah 52a; also see Mv – The Jewish Concept of Two Messiah’s).¹²²¹ This is the first time Mark uses the term Son of David. The fact that Bartimaeus used that title probably indicated that despite his physical blindness, he believed Jesus to be Israel’s Messiah (Isaiah 35:5, 32:3-4), in contrast to the blind unbelief of most Jews.¹²²²

The uproar and noise from the two outcasts was more than the crowd could tolerate, and they rebuked them and told the men to be quiet, possibly thinking that their cries spoiled the harmony of the moment. The word rebuked is in the imperfect tense, meaning that they continually rebuked them. They probably thought, “Why should these beggars make everybody miserable and take all the attention away from this important Rabbi.” But they shouted all the louder, and this time they addressed Him much more reverently as Lord. The Hebrew could be Adon and thus thought to be addressing Him as sir. But since the context was their belief that Yeshua was the Son of David, this indicates that they cried out: ADONAI, Son of David, have mercy on us (Matthew 20:31; Mark 10:48; Luke 18:39)!

Jesus stopped and ordered the two men to be brought to Him. And He said to the crowd: Call them. So they called to the blind men, saying: Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you. Throwing their robes aside, which were probably spread before them to collect alms, they jumped to their feet and came (probably ran) to Messiah needing only the sound of His voice to guide them (Mark 10:49-50; Luke 18:40).

When they came near, Yeshua asked them the all-important question: What do you want Me to do for you? The question was not asked to get information. Christ already knew what they wanted, but His question encouraged them to express their personal need since that was the basis on which His miracles were being performed after His rejection by the nation (see En – Four Drastic Changes in Christ’s Ministry). “Rabbi,” they answered, “We want to see”. After expressing their personal need, Jesus had compassion on them and accordingly touched their eyes, even though one of them was called son of the unclean, saying: Receive your sight. Go, your faith has healed you (Matthew 20:32-34a; Mark 10:51-52a; Luke 18:41-43). The perfect tense emphasizes a completed action (their physical healing), with continuing results (their salvation). Some other rabbi or anyone in the animated crowd would never have reached out to touch those street beggars. But Jesus Christ was sent from the Father, revealing Ha’Shem’s heart for the people He loves.

Jesus used many different ways to perform His healing miracles. There was no formula. Sometimes the afflicted person was asked to do something on his or her own. Sometimes the Lord simply spoke a word, and sometimes He performed some action, such as putting His fingers in deaf ears or making salve from mud and anointing blind eyes. In this case, Christ touched their eyes. He healed with a word or a touch, He healed instantaneously, He healed organic maladies from birth, and He raised the dead.

It is significant that among the many self-proclaimed faith healers of history, including those of today, there is a significant absence of restoring sight and raising the dead. Many other afflictions can be faked or can be given temporary improvement by the power of suggestion working in a desperate mind. But where are the miracles of vision given to the blind? Where are the people whose eyes are permanently damaged or completely missing who have regained their sight by the laying on of the healer’s hands? And where are the people who have been raised from the dead?¹²²³ When we do hear claims of raising the dead today, it always seems to be in some far off place. In today’s world of the twenty-four hour news cycle, why is there no record of someone’s life or sight restored. You would think that would be pretty newsworthy. But don’t worry, God is still in the miracle-making business, no more so than the miracle of a new birth in Christ (see Bw – What God Does for Us at the Moment of Faith), which happens somewhere every day.

Immediately they received their sight and followed Jesus along the road praising God (Matthew 20:34b; Mark 10:52b; Luke 18:43a). This word along the road, or the way is an important theme in Mark’s explanation of discipleship (Mark 8:27, 9:33, 10:17, 32 and 52, 12:14). The imperfect tense gives us a picture of the joyful Bartimaeus and his companion continually following Yeshua in the crowd that was on its way to Jerusalem. Not only were the physical eyes of the beggars opened, but also the spiritual eyes of many in that Jericho crowd. When all the people saw it, they also praised God (Luke 18:43b).

Bartimaeus is a picture of early discipleship. He recognized his inability, trusted Jesus as the One to give him God’s gracious mercy, and when he had his sight restored he followed the Lord as a loyal disciple. The fact that they had their sight restored suggests that these men had once been able to see. If so, they were more keenly aware of what they were missing than if they never had sight.¹²²⁴ It was ironic that although Bartimaeus was physically blind, he recognized Yeshua as the Meshiach, while the Great Sanhedrin and most of the other Jews in Isra’el were totally spiritually blinded.

This is a summary of Mark 8:27 to Mark 10:52, just like the healing of a blind man at Bethsaida was a summary of Mark 1:16 to Mark 8:26. It was not an accident that this is the last healing miracle that was recorded before the Triumphal Entry. Bartimaeus was an example of what should have happened in the City of David; therefore, his faithfulness stood in sharp contrast to the reception the Messiah would eventually receive in Yerushalayim from the religious establishment there.

The Son of Man Came to Serve,
and to Give His Life as a Ransom for Many
Matthew 20:17-28; Mark 10:32-45; Luke 18:31-34

The Son of Man came to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many DIG: Why does Jesus once again predict His death? Why now? How does the request of Salome show that the apostles’ view of the Kingdom was different from Yeshua’s? What don’t they see? Why can’t they share in Messiah’s cup? Why are the other ten talmidim indignant? Were their actions any more commendable? How does Christ use this uproar to convey new insights about what greatness is all about? How does Jesus practice what He preached? How is His death the ultimate service to all?

REFLECT: Yeshua of Nazareth came to pay the price of our ransom, to buy us back to our Father, the God of Isra’el. Do you believe that? Have you personally received this gift of love (Second Corinthians 9:15)? Thanks be to God for His incredible gift! How does Christ’s model of a servant influence your view of spiritual power? Your use of your gifts? Your relationships? What is one way to serve this week? When facing a tough spiritual battle, whom do you trust? What do you do if they don’t understand?

Jesus had finished His Galilean ministry and had crossed into Perea, on the other side of the Jordan River (to see link click Hl – Then Jesus Went Back Across the Jordan). As Jewish travelers from Galilee often did in order to avoid going through Samaria, Yeshua traveled down the eastern side of the Jordan River and crossed over into Jericho. From there, He and the Twelve would make their way up to Tziyon.

They were on their way up to Jerusalem, with Jesus leading the way in accordance with rabbinic tradition (Mark 10:32a). This detail, unique to Mark, points to Yeshua as the One who leads His people both in suffering and triumph. We have a construction in the Greek text that speaks, not of the momentary leading the way, but of a habitual practice. The Holy City stands near the highest point of the backbone of Palestine some 2,500 feet above sea level and higher than most inhabited places in Isra’el. This particular ascent was being made from Jericho, 900 feet below sea level. No matter where one is coming from in their travels, it is always up to Yerushalayim. It may not always be physically up if you were coming from Nepal, for example. But it is certainly up in the sense of a spiritual pilgrimage, and drawing close to God’s presence.¹²¹²

On the way to Jericho, He took the Twelve aside and told them what was going to happen to Him. He had done so before (also see Fy – Jesus Predicts His Death, and Ge – Jesus Predicts His Death a Second Time), but they did not understand the meaning of His words. His talmidim were terrified and in a fearful state of mind because of the somberness and determination of His attitude. The words Yeshua spoke were for their ears alone, not for the crowd. This time He explained to them, in more detail than ever before, the things He must suffer in Tziyon.¹²¹³  He said: We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. He will not be received by all Isra’el; in fact, He will be delivered over to the high priest, the Sadducees and Torah teachers. Here Jesus spoke for the first time of His betrayal, mocking, flogging and crucifixion. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked, flogged, crucified, spit on and finally killed (Matthew 20:17b-19a). This is the last of three times that Jesus predicts His death. The apostles gave no reply to Messiah’s words. Perhaps they could not bring themselves to believe He was going to be treated in that way.

This reflects the actual historic reality of the day as Isra’el was under Roman occupation and its civil authority. It was well known that, while the community of Isra’el was given a large amount of religious autonomy, many civil cases (including capital punishment) rested with the Roman government. Consequently, it has never been completely accurate to say, as many have, that “the Jews killed Jesus.” The Jews could not carry out the death penalty (see my commentary on Genesis Lg – The Scepter Will Not Depart from Judah Until He Comes to Whom It Belongs); therefore, they had to take Yeshua to the Romans. Later in the Life of Christ, we will see the Jewish culpability (see Lf – The Religious Trial), as well as the Gentile responsibility (see Ln – The Civil Trial). It is actually fitting that both Jews and Gentiles are represented in the rejection of the Messiah. In a twist of irony, it will be the death of Christ that will open up the gates of salvation for Jews and Gentiles alike.¹²¹⁴

Over this dark picture Jesus mentioned that He will be raised to life three days later and triumph over His enemies (Matthew 20:19b; Mark 10:33-34; Luke 18:31-33)! This would be the most memorable Passover in the history of the Jewish people. Yeshua will fulfill the promises of Messiah ben Joseph as He suffered to pay for the redemption of mankind. Jesus will also be able to fulfill the hope of Messiah ben David as He is risen and will return as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah (see Mv – The Jewish Concept of Two Messiah’s). His steadfast determination in the face of impending danger astonished the apostles. Not only that, but the crowd of disciples who usually followed Jesus were afraid (Mark 10:32b). These feelings must have been awakened by the manner of the Messiah, as one laboring under strong emotion, His face set like a flint (see my commentary on Isaiah Ir –Because the Sovereign LORDHelps Me, I Will Set My Face Like a Flint). The talmidim did not understand any of this about His death. Its meaning was hidden from them, and they did not know what He was talking about (Luke 18:34).

All the apostles hoped to reap of the glory that will come after the new Messiah overthrew the Romans. Had He not promised that they would sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Isra’el? With all the talk of the coming Kingdom, two of the more ambitious talmidim, were speculating in their own minds as to whom would occupy the more prominent seat. Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Him like spoiled children. “Rabbi,” they said, “we want You to do for us whatever we ask” (Mark 10:35). Their mother, whose name was Salome, came along with them. She was probably a sister of Jesus’ mother (Matthew 27:56; Mark 15:40; John 19:25). If so, then James and John would have been Jesus’ first cousins. Perhaps they hoped their family ties would help their cause.¹²¹⁵ At any rate, she came along with her sons and, in traditional humble fashion, kneeling down (Greek: proskuneo, meaning to kiss the face or to worship), also asked Jesus for a favor (Matthew 20:20).

What do you want Me to do for you? He asked (Matthew 20:21a; Mark 10:36). Each time Yeshua predicted His death, one or more talmidin responded with pride or misunderstanding. When He becomes Meshiach ben David, would He be so kind as to grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in Your Kingdom (Matthew 20:21b). The two sons agreed with their mother: Let one of us sit at your right and the other at Your left in Your glory (Mark 10:37). She wanted her sons to have the highest places of honor and authority in the messianic Kingdom, which they expected Messiah would soon establish.

Their mother had evidently gotten the main point from Jesus’ teaching regarding the kingdom of God (see Ik – The Little Children and Jesus). It was so convincing that she wanted to reserve a place of leadership for her two sons. But she seemed to miss the point about having the humility of a child.

Jesus’ answer was sharp and penetrating, and He immediately corrected her by saying: You don’t know what you are asking (Mark 10:38a). Messiah told them they did not realize what was involved in their ambitious request. To ask (this verb is in the middle voice, which represents the person acting in their own interest) for a place of honor in His glory was also a request to share in His suffering since one is tied to the other. The contrast could not have been greater. The Son of God was going to the cross, while they were only concerned about advancement in the coming Kingdom.

Continuing His questioning, Yeshua asked: Can you drink the cup I drink (Mark 10:38b)? In the Greek, Jesus’ question called for a negative response. The cup was a common Jewish metaphor for either joy (Psalms 23:5 and 116:13), or divine judgment against human sin (Psalm 75:7-8; Isaiah 5:17-23; Jeremiah 25:15-28, 49:12, 51:7; Ezeki’el 23:31-34; Habakkuk 2:16; Zechariah 12:2), with the context determining which to use. On many occasions like Shabbat and other festivals, Jews bless a cup of wine and drink it as a way of connecting with the holy times. But Yeshua will drink more than wine. Divine judgment would be unleashed upon Christ, but He would drink the cup voluntarily. The futuristic present tense is used here, pointing to an event that has not yet occurred, but which is so certain that it is as if it had already taken place.

The Lord continued, or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with (Matthew 20:22a; Mark 10:38c)? “We can,” they answered (Matthew 20:22b; Mark 10:39a). This was a mere profession of moral courage, not a claim of spiritual power. The figure of baptism expresses a parallel thought. Being under water was a picture in the TaNaKh of being overwhelmed by calamity (Job 22:11; Psalm 69:2 and 15; Isaiah 43:2). Here the calamity Jesus faced was bearing the burden of God’s judgment of sin that involved overwhelming suffering, culminating in death. He was to be baptized by God who would place these sufferings on Him (Isaiah 53:4b and 11). Were they willing to suffer the same consequences as their leader?

Jesus said to them: You will indeed drink from My cup and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with (Mark 10:39b). The apostles did not take on the sins of the world, but they did all drink the cup of martyrdom except for John (see Cy – These are the Names of the Twelve Apostles). This comes under the category of, “You had better be careful what you ask for, because you may get it.”

But positions in the Kingdom are not part of Jesus’ responsibility. As the Messiah, He is in submission to the will of the Father. He could make no such promises. He said: To sit at my right or left is not for Me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by My Father (Matthew 20:23; Mark 10:40). It would not be on the basis of favoritism or ambition that those honors would be given, but on the basis of the Father’s sovereign choice. It was not only sinful but a foolish and useless waste of effort.

When the other ten talmidim heard about this, they became indignant with James and John (Matthew 20:24; Mark 10:41). This jealous reaction reveals that they had the same selfish ambitions. Maybe they were disappointed in themselves for not making the request first! As Jesus saw an argument brewing, He saw it as a teachable moment, and called them together and reemphasized the meaning of true greatness (see Gg – The Greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven), by contrasting greatness in the world and greatness in God’s Kingdom. But Yeshua called them together and drew a contrast between the Gentiles and the children of the Kingdom of God. He said, “You know that among the Goyim, those who are supposed to rule them become tyrants, and worst still their superiors quite often become dictators (Mt 20:25; Mk 10:42). In other words, the quickest way to become powerful in the Gentile world is through power plays, guile and corruption.

Of course, this was exactly what the apostles had done earlier when they had argued among themselves about who was the greatest, and now the sons of Zebedee were asking for preferential treatment! But Yeshua helped them make a quick attitude adjustment. Each time the apostles respond with pride or misunderstanding, Jesus followed with teaching about servanthood or cross-bearing discipleship. He said: Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all (Matthew 20:26-27; Mark 10:43-44). The word servant is doulos, is commonly used for a bondslave.

For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve. Jesus Himself is the supreme example to the true Servant. As the divine Meshiach sent from the Father, Yeshua had every right to demand the submission of all of His followers. But in vivid contrast to them, the Son voluntarily veiled His glory (Mark 8:38 and 13:26), and came as God’s Servant (Psalm 49:5-7; Isaiah 52:13 to 53:12; Philippians 2:6-8), not to be served by others, but to serve them.

Once again, Yeshua was predicting His death. And yet the apostles were so focused on the glorious moment when ha-Meshiach would reveal Himself that they ignore the fact that He was telling them He would die soon. There would be no overthrow of the Romans. There would be no new government.

From washing the feet of the talmidim, to becoming the Lamb of God to be slaughtered for our sins, Christ’s whole earthly life was an example of serving, giving, and thinking of others and to give His life as a ransom for many (Matthew 20:28; Mark 10:45). The word ransom only occurs in these two verses in the New Covenant. It means the price of release, and refers to a payment to achieve the release of slaves or captives from bondage. It also includes the concept of substitution. We are captives under the power of sin and death (Romans 5:12, 6:20) from which we cannot free ourselves. Messiah’s substitutionary death redeemed us and set us free (Romans 6:22 and Hebrews 2:14-15).

There are six Greek words in the B’rit Chadashah for redemption. The first is the verb agorazo, which means to buy, to purchase in the market or slave market (First Corinthians 6:20, 7:23; Second Peter 2:1; Revelation 5:9 and 14:3-4). The second is the verb exagorazo, which means to buy out, to purchase out of the market or slave market (Galatians 3:13, 4:5). The third is the noun ransom, or lytron, which means the price of release Matthew 20:28; Mark 10:45). The fourth is the verb lytroomai, meaning to ransom, to free by paying a ransom price (Luke 24:21; Titus 2:14; First Peter 1:18). The fifth is the noun lytrosis, which means the act of freeing by paying a ransom price (Luke 1:68, 2:38; Hebrews 9:12), and the sixth noun is apolytrosis, meaning to buy back and set free by paying a ransom price (Luke 21:28; Romans 3:24, 8:23; First Corinthians 1:30; Ephesians 1:7 and 14, 4:30; Colossians 1:14; Hebrews 9:15, 11:35).¹²¹⁶

The climax of Christ’s service was His death as a ransom in the place of many (Matthew 20:28, Mark 10:45), emphasizing what a large number was bought back from the single sacrifice of One Redeemer (Romans 5:15 and 18-19). He did this voluntarily, sacrificially, and obediently. Of course, there is one condition for anyone (including us) to enjoy the benefits of that ransom. We must be willing to accept the gift of Jesus. God’s love will only be experienced by our reciprocal faith and trust, as Yeshua verified in His conversation with Rabbi Nicodemus: For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life (Yochanan 3:16). Because of our personal sins and folly, we are in slavery without hope. Jewish and Gentile believers from every age have eagerly waited for the arrival of King Messiah to bring in His thousand-year reign of the messianic Kingdom.¹²¹⁷

One of the incredible abilities of Jesus was to stay on target. His life never got off track . . . He kept His life on course.

As Jesus looked across the horizon of His future, He could see many targets. Many flags were flapping in the wind, each of which He could have pursued. He could have been content to be a teacher and educate minds . . . But in the end He chose to be a Savior and save souls.

Anyone near Christ for any length of time heard it from Jesus Himself. For the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10). The heart of Christ was relentlessly focused on one task. The day He left the carpentry shop in Nazareth He had one ultimate aim – the cross of Calvary.¹²¹⁸