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 ...

In the first blog in this series -- An Angry Person Should be Tried in Court like a Murderer -- we saw that Yeshua’s message about anger was linked to Leviticus 19:17-18: You shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall YAKACh with your neighbor lest you bear sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your people. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am YAHWEH. In the Torah, anger is linked to the Hebrew word translated “ grudge ” in the above verse. In the previous blog in this series -- Settle Matters With Your Brother While There is Still Time – we learned that unresolved anger could block one’s forgiveness from YAHWEH and negate the value of one’s sacrifice. The man who had committed one of the three degrees of offenses related to anger, according to Yeshua, was to leave his QORBAN (sacrifice) at the altar, go find the one who he had committed the offense against, be reconciled with him, and the...