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Yeshua in Context >> Teaching of Yeshua

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

Why the Beatitudes Are Much Loved

The Delitzsch Hebrew-English version (DHE), a forthcoming translation of the gospels from the Hebrew version of Franz Delitzsch, renders Matthew 5:3 as follows: O the gladness of the poor in ruach, theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Yeshua makes desirable what is commonly regarded as unpleasant or pathetic. Our emotions are stirred by such talk. The imaginations and hopes of peasants sitting on the Galilean grass were stirred. It is something greatly to be desired, a reversal so needed by those of us who deeply feel our poverty of spirit. ... Read entire article >>

Filed under: Aims of Yeshua , Beatitudes , Besorah/Gospel/Good News , Kingdom Future , Kingdom Present , Teaching of Yeshua

The Teacher, A Parallel in Chronicles

Adela Yarbro Collins (Mark: A Commentary. Fortress, 2007) discusses in her introduction some of the aspects of Yeshua's identity. One of the identifying roles of Yeshua is teacher. In this comment, she uncovers a little known parallel from the Hebrew Bible, of teachers sent out to travel as itinerants through the land teaching the people: ... Read entire article >>

Filed under: Aims of Yeshua , Background to Gospels , Identity of Yeshua , Spectacular Commentary , 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

Parables That Make it into All Three Gospels

Which of Yeshua's many parables make it into all three synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke)? It's an interesting list. Perhaps all three evangelists saw these as indispensable. ... Read entire article >>

Filed under: Gospel Genres , Parables , 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

Son of Man Must Suffer

. . . began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected (Mark 8:31). ... Read entire article >>

Filed under: Paradox , Teaching of Yeshua