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Yeshua in Context >> Sermon on the Mount

Repost: The Mountain in the Sermon

On Sunday, I'm speaking to a small class in North Georgia about the Beatitudes. As you progress into Matthew 5-7, this is a vital piece of information about the context. The following information is derived from a paper by Eric Ottenheijm of the University of Utrecht presented at the 2010 Society of Biblical Literature in the Matthew section. In Matthew 5:1, Yeshua went up on "the mountain." No one knows which mountain, although there is a lovely hill which is the traditional spot. More important than a physical location, though, is understanding the allusion of "the mountain." There are a number of mountains of great significance in the Hebrew Bible. The echoes of Exodus and Isaiah in particular add depth and meaning to the Sermon on the Mount. ... Read entire article >>

Filed under: Background to Gospels , Beatitudes , Besorah/Gospel/Good News , Identity of Yeshua , New Moses Theme , Sermon on the Mount , Spectacular Commentary

The Mountain in the Sermon

The following information is derived from a paper by Eric Ottenheijm of the University of Utrecht presented at the 2010 Society of Biblical Literature in the Matthew section. In Matthew 5:1, Yeshua went up on "the mountain." No one knows which mountain, although there is a lovely hill which is the traditional spot. More important than a physical location, though, is understanding the allusion of "the mountain." There are a number of mountains of great significance in the Hebrew Bible. The echoes of Exodus and Isaiah in particular add depth and meaning to the Sermon on the Mount. ... Read entire article >>

Filed under: Background to Gospels , Beatitudes , Besorah/Gospel/Good News , Identity of Yeshua , New Moses Theme , Sermon on the Mount , Spectacular Commentary

The Eye as a Lamp

Matthew 6:22-23 and Luke 11:34-36 are confusing for moderns. We think of the eye as a window, letting in light. But ancients could think of an eye another way, as lights shining the interior light of the body. There are many examples in the Bible and in Greek texts. Psalm 38:11 is one example, "My eyes too have lost their luster" (see also Prov 15:30). This has nothing to do with the scientific or pre-scientific way of looking at vision. It is the observation, which moderns also make, that a person's eyes show their inner character. So what does Yeshua's saying mean and what does it have to do with the evil eye? ... Read entire article >>

Filed under: Idioms , Sermon on the Mount , Teaching of Yeshua

Beatitudes as Sad Reality

In chapter 10 of Yeshua In Context, I detail the five things we should see in each of the Beatitudes from Matthew 5:3-12. One of the five things is "The Reality of the Present Age." Yeshua's audience, at least those who thought he might be the King, Messiah, expected him to bring the kingdom right away. Some modern scholars have said that Yeshua was a failed idealist. He taught an in-breaking of divine blessing that never came. Perish the thought! Yeshua clearly taught reality and nowhere more clearly than in the Beatitudes. Consider these thoughts . . . ... Read entire article >>

Filed under: Aims of Yeshua , Beatitudes , Sermon on the Mount , Teaching of Yeshua

Origin of the Sermon on the Mount

Some people will be bothered by what I say below, an excerpt from chapter 10 of Yeshua in Context. It may seem to some that this theory is monkeying with a straight, truth-telling style of narrative reporting. Many have assumed that the words of Yeshua, as reported by the gospels, are word for word. Perhaps God brought them perfectly to the memory of the evangelists. Perhaps the evangelists memorized everything word for word. Perhaps they took notes. But the problem with these assumptions is that people did not have this kind of "news reporting" expectation. The evangelists don't assume readers will take their reporting as verbatim, without omissions, without summarizing and shaping. I suspect that the reporting of Yeshua's words is very close to verbatim in many cases, especially the ... Read entire article >>

Filed under: Sermon on the Mount , Teaching of Yeshua