The Real Yeshua

This is the third part of Yeshua’s teaching on “Anger.” In Part 1, An Angry Person Should be Tried in Court like a Murderer we learned how Yeshua used the court system as an example to establish the seriousness of different levels of anger. (1) The lowest court was a Bet Din of three judges . (2) Cases involving capital punishment were decided by a Bet Din of twenty-three judges . [i] (3) The highest court of the land was the Sanhedrin of 71 judges . Since Yeshua compared anger to murder in the first example, the first court referred to in his lesson was the Bet Din of twenty-three judges . His point was uncontrolled anger may potentially lead to murder. In Part 2, Do Not Say RAQA! Yeshua shows how anger may lead to an even more serious offense, if anger continues to go unchecked, by using the next highest court - the Sanhedrin of 71 judges . What increased the seriousness of the offense to the point that it would be a case tried by the highest court of the land? It ...

In the last blog, we covered the first part of Yeshua’s lesson on Anger -- An Angry Person Should be Tried in Court like a Murderer – keep in mind that “anger” is the focus of Yeshua’s lesson. “Whoever says to a brother, ‘ RAKA ,’ shall be answerable to the Sanhedrin.” [i] Yeshua reveals that the seriousness of the offense has become greater by elevating the crime to the next highest court – the Sanhedrin . It is the highest court in the nation and would be the equivalent of our Supreme Court. What makes this offense more serious than murder, to keep things in the context established by Yeshua? It is because of what the angry person said out of anger – “ RAKA !” RAKA is the English transliteration of the Greek word found in the ancient manuscripts of Matthew. Interestingly, the Greek word is also a transliteration of a Hebrew word into Greek. Keep in mind that when a translator working on a translation of a Greek manuscript transliterates a Greek word, he only finds ...

After Yeshua made it clear that an important part of his mission was to correctly interpret the Torah (see August 30, 2013 blog, “ Yeshua Came to Fulfill the Law not Abolish It ”) he does just that. He will use the method of teaching, which is called “Fence Building” (see September 5, 2013 blog, “ Yeshua Master Fence Builder ”), along with other popular methods used by Jewish teachers of that time period. Now, let’s listen to a master teacher teach the Torah. It will become very clear that knowledge of the Torah is essential to digging much deeper into the words he used whenever he taught. This lesson is just as applicable for Jews and non-Jews today as it was to his Jewish audience almost 2,000 years ago. “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subjected to the Bet Din .’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother will be subjected to the Bet Din .’” Yeshua began by connecting a h...

Yeshua, like other rabbis, used a popular method of teaching in which a light commandment is linked to a heavy commandment to show that keeping the light commandment is just as important as keeping the heavy commandment.  The premise is that if a man keeps the light commandments he will not break the more serious heavy commandments. On the other hand, breaking a light commandment can have serious consequences because it could lead to breaking a heavy commandment. An early example of this method is found in 4 Maccabees 5:19-21. Do not suppose that it would be a petty sin if we were to eat defiled food; to transgress the law in matters either small (light) or great (heavy) is of equal seriousness, for in either case the law is equally despised. A saying from around the same time as Yeshua also reflects the use of this method. It is found in a famous quote recorded in the Mishnah [i] Avot 4:2 (Oral Law) – One good deed leads to another good deed; one sin leads to another...

In the past few blogs we have learned what the words that have been translated jot , tittle and verily meant to Yeshua. Go back and read those blogs if you haven’t do so yet. In the last blog, we also learned how to recognize the three-fold teaching pattern Yeshua used to make his points. We are examining Matthew 5:17-18. 1. Significant statement -- Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets ; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them . 2. Amen! 3. Added statement strengthening the Amen -- I tell you till heaven and earth pass, not one yod or one qotz shall pass from the Law till all be fulfilled . Now let’s discover what “ the Law or the Prophets ” meant to Yeshua. The transliterations of the Hebrew words he used were – TORAH or NEVI’IM . Today, the TORAH (Law) and NEVI’IM (Prophets) are two sections of the Tanakh ,   the Jewish Bible . It also has a third section called KETUVIM (Writings). Click here to view a Tanakh on...

We have unlocked the original meanings of two of Yeshua’s words in the verse below. We used them to replace “jot” and “tittle” in the following translation: For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one yod (the smallest Hebrew letter) or one qotz (the smallest part of the smallest letter) shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. (Matthew 5:18) Now let’s turn our attention to the word “ verily .” If we look it up in a dictionary we find the following definitions: i n truth; really; indeed . Did Yeshua mean: ● “For in truth I say unto you . . .” ● “For really I say unto you . . .” ● “For indeed I say unto you . . .” As pointed out before, Yeshua didn’t teach in English, so our first step to discovering what he did say is to examine the Greek word that is translated “verily” – amhn . Before we find out what it means, let’s review the options that translators have when they are working with ancient Greek and Hebrew manuscripts. Tr...