Over
200 years before the birth of Yeshua (Yeshua), a central figure in the Essene
community at Qumran was called “the Teacher
of Righteousness.” He was extolled as having a proper understanding of
the Torah and qualified to accurately teach it, as well as being one through
whom God revealed “the hidden things” to the community. His name is not known,
but it is important to remember the attributes linked to him:
(1) He taught his
followers TZEDEQ (righteousness).
(2) He had a
high level of understanding of the Torah and was qualified to accurately teach
it.
(3) He revealed “hidden
things” to the community.
Over
the years other famous Jewish teachers arose who were also described as Teachers of Righteousness:
● a Sadducee (Zadokite) priest
● Hyrcanus II
● Hillel the Elder
● James, brother
of Yeshua
Messianic
ideas emerged
about a figure “like” the Teacher of
Righteousness who will appear before the Great Day of Judgment. The author of the Gospel of Matthew connects ideas Jewish readers would recognize about
the Teacher of Righteousness with Yeshua.
(1) Yeshua teaches about righteousness. – When
Yeshua said to his disciples, “You are
the light of the world,” he was teaching about righteousness. When he taught
his disciples “to lay up treasures in
heaven,” he was teaching about righteousness. When he revealed the
requirements being in “the Kingdom of Heaven,” he was teaching about
righteousness. When he revealed how to “enter
into eternal life,” he was teaching about righteousness.
(2)
Yeshua describes himself as a teacher
with a high level of
understanding of the Torah and the Prophets qualified to accurately interpret Jewish
Scriptures.
-- Do not think that I have come to misinterpret
the Torah or the Prophets; I have not come to misinterpret them but to
interpret them correctly. Amen! I
tell you that until heaven and earth pass, not one yod (the smallest Hebrew
letter of the alphabet) or one qotz (small decorative marks on Hebrew letters) shall
pass from the Torah until all is correctly interpreted. (Matthew 5:17-18)
(3) Yeshua was chosen
by God to reveal “things that were
hidden” to the community. -- “I thank
thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that Thou hast hidden these things from
the wise and understanding and revealed them to the simple; Yes, Father, for
this was your good pleasure. All things have been delivered to me by my Father;
and no one knows the son except the father, and no one knows the father except
the son and any one to whom the son chooses to reveal it.” (Matthew
11:25-21)
The
discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls revealed
much more about the Teacher of
Righteousness. Compare the words below with the words of Yeshua above:
Through me You
have illuminated the face of many, and hast shown Your infinite power. For You
have given me knowledge of Your marvelous mysteries, and hast shown Yourself
mighty with me through the secret of Your marvels. You have done wonders before
many for the sake of Your glory, that they may make known Your mighty deeds to
all the living.
[Thanksgiving Hymns (1QH ) 4:27-29]
One
of the very important things Yeshua revealed to the community was “the way to enter eternal life.” How was
it revealed to him? Based on years of study about the teachings of Yeshua, it
is our conclusion that it he discovered it as he contemplated words recorded on
the scroll of Isaiah. In chapter 58:6-7
of Isaiah describes the kingdom that God
seeks:
Is this not the
fast I will choose: to open bands of wickedness, to undo the thongs of the
yoke, and to let the oppressed ones go free, and every yoke you shall pull off?
Is it not to break your bread with the hungry, and wandering poor you should
bring (to your) house; when you will see a naked, you shall cover him, and from
your flesh you will not hide yourself?
Parallelisms
help us discover meanings of words and phrases recorded in Jewish Scriptures. Parallelisms
repeat ideas and highlight meanings. Below is Isaiah 58:8 written in a form that
helps us identify the parallel terms and their relationships: A // a, B // b and C // c.
|
A
|
B
|
C
|
|
Then your light /
|
shall break forth as the dawn
|
/ and your healing shall quickly spring up;
|
|
|
|
|
|
a
|
b
|
c
|
|
your righteousness /
|
shall go before you /
|
the glory of Yahweh shall gather you.
|
(1) A
// a reveals that light = acts of righteousness done in verses 6 & 7.
(2) B
// b reveals that shall break forth =
shall go before you.
(3) C
// c reveals that your healing shall
quickly spring up = the glory of
Yahweh shall gather you.
What
does the parallelism reveal about the people above?
Light breaks
forth
from those that do acts of righteousness – break
their bread with the hungry, bring the wandering poor to their houses, cover
those who they see naked and do not hide from their own flesh. They are the
ones that open bands of wickedness,
undo the thongs of the yoke, let the oppressed ones go free, and pull off every
yoke. They are a nation that does righteousness. They will be gathered by
Yahweh.
Yeshua’s
Jewish culture provides another clue for discovering something else hidden in
the text -- “light” and “life” are used as synonyms -- doing acts of righteousness causes life to
break forth too. Now apply this information to the words found verse 10:
“then your light shall rise in darkness” becomes
“then your life rise in death . . .”
This
is the background information about Isaiah’s words that Yeshua would have taught
his disciples.
With
that information in mind, let’s examine what Yeshua revealed about “entering eternal life.” The event takes
place on the Great Day of Judgment
when all the nations of the earth are judged:
Then the King will say to those on his right hand,
“Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the
foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty
and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you took me in; I was naked and you
clothed me; I was sick and you visited me; I was in prison and you came to me”
. . . the righteous
shall enter into eternal life.” (Matthew 25:31-46)
Did
those words sound familiar? Those who enter into eternal life did acts of
righteousness:
(1) gave food to the hungry
(2) gave drink to the thirsty
(3) took a stranger in
(4) clothed the naked
(5) visited the sick
(6) came to those in prison
The
bottom line is that those who were “lights
in this world enter into eternal life” – what they sowed they reaped! The author of the Gospel of John includes a revelation based on the one we discovered
in Isaiah’s words -- “Then your life rise
in death . . .”
“Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are
in the graves will hear the Son of Man’s voice and come forth — those
who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done
evil to the resurrection of condemnation.” (John
5:28-29)
We
have much more information like this that we would like to share with you in
2018.
If you are
interested in learning more about the life and teachings of the Jesus of
history – Yeshua – or if you do not want to hear any more about him -- I need
to hear from you. We are planning our publication schedule for 2018 now.
Send me an email at jim@theyteam.org
or connect with me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/The-Y-Team-1446564305451796/
and let me know.
Or let me know by making a donation and help fund BHC’s
work –
Your help is greatly appreciated!
Shalom,
Jim
Myers
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