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 ...

By the time Yeshua finished his message on anger, every Jew listening that day would have recognized its connection to one of the most important accounts in the Torah. It is an account that was, and still is, considered so important because when past generations failed to observe the principles it taught, the result was the Great Flood and the conquering of Israel and Judea by foreign kings. Its message is clear -- the greatest threat to the existence the Jewish people -- and to mankind – is the failure of man to be his brother’s keeper . Yeshua’s teaching on anger was a commentary on the account of Cain and Abel – Cain’s anger led to Abel’s murder. At the end of days Cain brought an offering to YAHWEH of the fruit of the ground. And Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. [i] Cain and Abel brought QORBAN to YAHWEH. Now pay close attention to what happened next: And YAHWEH gazed toward Abel and toward for his offering; ...

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 ...

“. . . but whosoever shall say, `Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. ’” The above quote is attributed to Yeshua and translated by King James translators (Matthew 5:22). Over the years I have had a number of people ask if they would really go to Hell just for calling someone “a fool.” Most questions like this come from people who belonged to churches that teach their members the doctrine of inerrancy and infallibility of the Bible. Obviously, if a person’s church teaches that doctrine and if their Bible contains the above words, what else could they believe – if every word of the Bible is to be taken literally and if the Bible says if someone calls someone else a “fool” they will go to Hell, then it must be the divine truth! Keep in mind that those same churches teach that their eternal salvation is based on “correct beliefs.” Obviously, questioning anything their church teaches would not be welcomed by those in authority and usually it is not tolerated. Before I ...

Let’s continue with Yeshua’s teaching on anger (Part 6): Agree with your adversary quickly while you are still on the road with him; lest at any time your adversary deliver you to the judge, and the judge deliver you to the officer, and you be thrown into prison.  Amen! I tell you, you will not come out of there until you have paid the last kodranthn ( KODRANTEN ). (Matthew 5:25-26) The three key terms in the closing of Yeshua’s lesson on anger are adversary, amen and kodranthn . Let’s begin by discovering the meaning of the Greek word kodranthn . A number of English translators chose to use the word “ farthing ” -- “until you have paid the last farthing.”  Their decision to use “farthing” reveals something important about the influence of their culture on their translation of the Bible. They chose a familiar English word from their culture that readers would have clearly understood – but the word they chose no longer is used or familiar to American English reade...