Matthew: Connecting the Covenants, Part 3 - Chapter 3A - John the Immerser

Matthew 3 introduces us to John the Baptist, but we are not told too much about him.  Luke chapter 3 tells us he is the miracle son of the priest Zachariah and his wife Elizabeth, who were well beyond child-bearing years.

John was not a Baptist, nor was his name actually John.  His Hebrew name is Yochanan, meaning Yahweh is a gracious giver.  The names of his parents mean Yahweh remembers, and the oath of Yahweh.

Names mean something in scripture.  Taken together, we see a prophetic promise in the names of this priestly family:  Yahweh remembers His oath, and He has sent a gracious gift.

The gracious gift was their son, given to them in their old age, who was to have the privilege of preparing hearts for the arrival of the Messiah. In Luke 1:72-73, we even see Zechariah referring to the oath of the Lord in the midst of his beautiful prophecy: …to show mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant, the oath that he swore to our father Abraham…

Now John, who was himself of the priestly lineage, preached in the wilderness of Judea.  Verse 2 gives us his message: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Artist's rendering of John preaching at the Jordan River

John was preparing hearts to receive their king.

Repentance is a key theme in the Hebrew scriptures, and John’s audience would have understood what was being asked of them.  The Hebrew word shoov is used over 1000 times in the scriptures, and it means to turn back or return.  The word teshuva, based on this root word, is understood in Hebrew as turning back to God and away from sin.

The kingdom of heaven is Matthew’s way of saying God’s kingdom to Jews who generally avoided using God’s name or title (and still do to this day).  Luke, writing to a more Gentile audience, generally uses the latter expression.  But they mean the same thing. The kingdom of the Lord was about to be offered to the Jewish people.  Would they accept?

Matthew then quotes lsaiah 40:3 in verse 3, saying, For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.

Malachi 4:5 says, Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes.

Matthew 3:4 goes on to basically describe Elijah the prophet.  John wore camel’s hair and a leather belt, and ate locusts and wild honey. For comparison, 2 Kings 1:8 says, They answered him [Ahaziah, king of Israel], “He wore a garment of hair, with a belt of leather about his waist.”  And he said, “It is Elijah the Tishbite.”

Further on in Matthew, we will see Yeshua referring to John the Baptist as Elijah (chapters 11 and 17 if you want to read ahead, also Luke 1:17). This does not mean that John was literally Elijah, but was a prophetic type of Elijah. I believe that Malachi 4:5 is a near/far prophecy, and that we will see a type of Elijah again just before Yeshua’s return.

Before moving on, I want to talk about the idea of making the paths straight. It was an ancient custom to fix pathways and hills that were damaged by rains, heat, and constant treading of animals, in preparation for the arrival of royalty. Boulders and debris would be removed, holes filled in, and paths leveled.

Isaiah 40:4 was not quoted in Matthew, but it would have been understood:  Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.

Let me share a modern day example.  In 2017, I was in Jerusalem during the visit of President Donald Trump.  The president was transported from Ben Gurion Airport to a parking lot in south Jerusalem via the presidential helicopter Marine One.  I happened to be staying at a friend’s house just across from that parking lot.  The Jerusalem city workers had literally flattened that parking lot; removing bushes, trees, and raised curbs prior to Trump’s arrival. My friend actually saw the landing and caught it on video. I was off galivanting, so I missed the excitement.

So John, a prophetic picture of Elijah, was dunking people in the Jordan river as they confessed their sins.  Many people think of baptism as a Christian idea, but it is rooted in biblical Judaism.  The modern Hebrew term for ritual immersion is mikveh.  In the Hebrew scriptures, there are many examples of ritual bathing to remove uncleanness, which morphed into the custom of dunking in the mikveh for various life events. On my first visit to Israel, our secular Jewish tour guide explained that immersing in the mikveh was like becoming a newborn baby… in other words, born again. When Peter and company immersed 3000 people in Acts 2, they most likely used the ritual baths (over 60 of them) that have been discovered around the Temple Mount.

Matthew 3:5-6 shows people from all around the area – Jerusalem, Judea, and the Jordan River region – flocking to the place where John was immersing people while they repented and confessed their sins. Word was getting around that something big was afoot, and even the bigwigs of Judaism were making their way to hear John. But I don’t believe they expected to hear what John was going to say, and that will be covered in my next post.

Before ending, I just want to say that the location of John’s baptism site was no random spot. It is the very location where the Israelites crossed into the Promised Land from the wilderness.  God was about to begin something new.  The very word for Hebrew comes from the word Eber, which means one from beyond. The idea here is crossing over from darkness to light.

See below for explanation of this painting

I once saw this amazing painting hanging on an outdoor wall in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem.  I'm so glad I took a photo because I haven't seen it since. It is a picture of crossing from darkness to light, but there is more going on here.  The Hebrew letters Alef and Tav are attached to the cliffs, and the person walking is carrying the Mem (Hebrew reads from right to left). Alef and Tav are equivalent to the Alpha and Omega in the Greek - the first and the last, the beginning and the end. The Mem which is being carried will fit perfectly to make a bridge between the Alef and the Tav.  Alef Mem Tav spells Emet - meaning truth in Hebrew. The Mem is the first letter of the word Mashiach, or Messiah.

The next post on Matthew chapter 3 is now ready.  Click here to read it.

 

Matthew: Connecting the Covenants, Part 2 - Chapter 2: Wise Men and an Evil King

Welcome to part two of connecting the covenants!   I have decided to put the New Covenant scriptures in red and the corresponding Hebrew scriptures in blue throughout this series. I've updated my first post with this information. We continue today with Matthew chapter 2.  The first two verses contain numerous connections.

Now after Yeshua was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, "Where is he who has been born king of the Jews?  For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him."

Our first connection is to Micah 5:2, where we learn the birthplace of the Messiah:  But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from old, from ancient days.

Bethlehem Ephrathah is used to distinguish which Bethlehem, as there were several in Israel in the time of Yeshua.  Ephrathah was in Judea, and is also there today.  The modern Jewish town called Efrat is just outside the Palestinian Authority-controlled Bethlehem.

Micah describes this town of Bethlehem as small, and indeed it was back then, even though it was the ancestral home of King David.  Located six miles south of Jerusalem, it was quite tiny.  Many of the Judean descendants of David, in line for the throne of Israel, fled from Bethlehem during the persecution by the Greeks under Antiochus in the 160's BC.  Where did they go?  Galilee. Specifically Nazareth. More on Nazareth at the end of this post.

By the way, Bethlehem means house of bread and ephrathah means fruitful.

So. who were these wise men, what was this star they spoke of, and how did they know about it?

The book of Daniel gives us numerous examples of the king's men in Babylon.  In Daniel 2:2, the Septuagint (Hebrew scriptures translated into Greek about 200 years before Yeshua was born) uses, among others, the Greek word magi to describe the king's "magicians."  These magicians, sorcerers, and diviners were advisors to the king. Daniel himself was elevated to the position of advisor to various kings in Babylon. Magi is the word used in Matthew 2:2 for wise men.

After the seventy years of exile were up for the Jews in Babylon, a small percentage of them returned to Jerusalem, but the majority remained in Babylon.  Did the Jewish presence in Babylon over the years have influence over the wise men and astrologers there?  Were they familiar with the Hebrew scriptures? 

Numbers 24:17 is a prophecy uttered by Balaam, the Gentile who was unable to curse the Israelites but instead blessed them: I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near: a star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel.

Also, there are numerous Hebrew scriptures that speak of nations and kings bowing down to the Messiah. The wise men came to the feet of Messiah from the nations to give homage to the newborn king. Technically, they were not kings, but they served kings.

Psalm 72 says, May the kings of Tarshish and of the coastlands render him tribute; may the kings of Sheba and Seba bring gifts! May all kings fall down before him, all nations serve him!

Isaiah 60:3 says, And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.  

Continuing the story in Matthew... The wise men went to Jerusalem and asked around about Israel's coming king.  Herod caught wind of this and was beside himself - and all of Jerusalem with him. He was an evil man who killed his wives and sons out of paranoia that someone would usurp his throne. The people of Jerusalem knew that if Herod wasn't happy, ain't nobody happy. Herod left no stone unturned and summoned his own wise men... the Jewish leaders, to find out where this king would be born. They told Herod where this would be, quoting Micah 5:2... right there in Matthew 2:6.

Herod then summoned the Eastern wise men and grilled them about the timing, and then commanded them to go find the kid and bring him word so that he too could worship him.

The magi listened to the king and then went on their way, following the star and it led them to the house where the child was.

Stop.

I have no idea how a star in the sky can rest over a house in the physical realm. May I suggest an idea? 

The last verse of Revelation chapter 1 says this about John's vision:  As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

The Greek word for angel, angelos, means a messenger, an envoy, one who is sent. Could the star that led the magi to the house have been a messenger or envoy of some kind?  I believe it makes sense.

Note that these wise men did not go to Yeshua's original birthplace... the cave, the stable, or wherever it was.  The child was now a little older and was at the house where he and his parents were staying (but still in Bethlehem).  The magi entered the house, saw the child with his mother, and fell down and worshiped. Gentiles from afar worshipping the Jewish Messiah. They gave the child gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. (This is why we assume there were three magi - three gifts.  But there could have been an entire ensemble of magi).

Isaiah 60:6 says, They shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall bring good news, the praises of Yahweh. Did you notice that there is no myrrh mentioned here?  This is an example of a near/far prophecy. Myrrh was a gift included at His first coming because it is a spice that represents death.  However, when He returns as the King of glory, no myrrh will be required.

It is interesting that Luke 2 records the first worshippers of the Messiah - the Jewish shepherds. They went straight to Yeshua's place of birth after being told where to find Him by an angel.  This order fits the repeated biblical pattern of the Jew first and then the nations. The magi came later.

After worshipping the baby king, the magi dreamt that they were not to return to Herod, and so they didn't. They snuck out the back door of Judea, so to speak.

Time for another angelic dream, this time for Joseph, telling him to get his family out of there pronto. Joseph wasted no time, and they all left for Egypt under the cover of darkness. Matthew 2:15 says they remained there until the death of Herod.  This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, "Out of Egypt I called my son."

Oooo, another connection.  Hosea 11:1 says, When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. This prophecy has so many layers! Both Abraham (Genesis 12) and Moses (Exodus 12) left Egypt with great treasures.  Joseph and Mary eventually left Egypt and returned to Israel with the greatest treasure of all - the Messiah!

Meanwhile, back in Bethlehem... Herod was furious at being tricked by the wise men, and he put to death all the male children in Bethlehem and surrounding areas ages two and under.  Matthew 2:18 records a prophecy from Jeremiah: A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.

Going back to Jeremiah, it is interesting to note the context of this verse.  Jeremiah 31 is filled with promises of hope and restoration for Israel. The comfort and reassurance in that chapter is so great that verse 15 stands out as such a contrast - that of Rachel weeping for her children. Ramah was well north of Bethlehem, so the prophecy isn't location-specific.  I believe the contrast of that one verse of mourning in the midst of great hope is intentional.

In the same way, the celebration and joy of the Messiah's earthly arrival is tempered by the tragic murders in Bethlehem. 

Herod was not the only despot to murder Jewish baby boys.  We also have a connection back to Exodus chapter 1, where the evil Pharaoh commanded the deaths of all the Israelite baby boys.

In both of those cases, the future deliverer of his people was rescued from death as a baby. First Moses, then Yeshua.

Matthew chapter 2 concludes with Joseph being given another dream to return to Israel.  The final verse says, And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene.

This prophecy isn't so clear, as it is not a direct quote of a verse - at least not in the English.  However, check out Isaiah 11:1... There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. That word for branch is netzer. The name Nazareth comes from this word and means branch town. It is the town where the branch of the stump of Jesse, the promised Messiah, would grow up. Even today in Israel, followers of Yeshua are called Notzrim, a title that stems (pun intended) from the same root (pun also intended) word.

To continue to the next post, click here.

Matthew: Connecting the Covenants, Part 1 - Intro and Chapter 1

It has been on my heart to do a study on book of Matthew as it relates to the Hebrew scriptures (aka Old Testament - a term that I do not favor because it makes those scriptures seem seem obsolete).

The good news (or gospel in olde English if you prefer, a word shortened from good spell which means glad tidings or good news) of Matthew was written primarily to a Jewish-Christian audience, probably between 70 and 80 AD to those followers of Yeshua who were scattered after the fall of Jerusalem.

Matthew's primary purpose was to demonstrate that Yeshua is the Messiah, the Son of David; and the initial fulfillment of Yahweh's promises to Israel (although some of those promises are yet to be fulfilled... more on this in later posts).

UPDATE: I have decided to put the New Covenant scriptures in red and the corresponding Hebrew scriptures in blue throughout this series.

Who was Matthew? In Hebrew, the name is Mattityahu, meaning gift of Yahweh, a name that we do not find in the Hebrew scriptures. However, the name is prominent in the account of the Hasmoneans in the apocryphal books of the Maccabees.  Mattityahu was the patriarch of the Levitcial Hasmonean family who led the fight against Antiochus Epiphanes in the 160s BC.  This evil Greek ruler sought to destroy Judaism, and the Hasmoneans helped defeat him, leading to the festival of Hanukkah. However, being Levites, the Hasmoneans were not qualified to be kings of Israel. The king had to be from the line of Judah. But without the military successes of the Hasmoneans, there would have been no future king Messiah.

It is interesting that new covenant writer and disciple Matthew was most likely also a Levite, the ones who served at the temple.  Our Matthew (also known as Levi) had fallen away from his Levitical roots and become a tax collector, hated by his countrymen.  He was one of the later-added disciples; we don't see him added to the pack until Matthew 9.

Let's jump in.

Matthew 1:1  says, The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ (Messiah), the son of David, the son of Abraham. 

Stop. 

Today, most Jews will not pick up a new testament and read it, because they have been conditioned to believe that it is an antisemitic book that wants to destroy them.  But I have heard testimonies from people who have started with the book of Matthew and are blown away at the opening line.  Son of David, son of Abraham?  This resonates with the Jewish psyche.  The text continues with more lineage, and verse 17 wraps it up by saying, So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Messiah fourteen generations.

Whoa. This passage screams Messiah. 

Since Hebrew letters are also numeric, the name David equals 14.  David David David! Many Jews know that the Messiah must come from the line of David, according to the Davidic Covenant in 2 Samuel 7, where Yahweh says to David in verses 12-13:  When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.  He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. (This promise is reiterated in Psalm 89:3-4, 132:11, Isaiah 16:5, and Jeremiah 33:17).

In context, David wanted to build a house for Yahweh, but instead, Yahweh told David, no, I'm going to build a house for ME from YOU and your lineage.

Okay, so this passage is shouting the concept of Messiah.  But not so fast.

I read an article by a rabbi who said that the genealogy in Matthew demonstrates the opposite, that Yeshua could not have come from this lineage, and to that I say, you are correct, sir.

Verses 11 and 12 mention a guy named Jeconiah (aka Jehoiachin and Coniah) in the lineage.  However, this dude had his bloodline cursed in Jeremiah 22:30, which says, speaking of Coniah, Thus says the LORD: write this man down as childless, a man who shall not succeed in his days, for none of his offspring shall succeed in sitting on the throne of David and ruling again in Judah. 

Oops.

Yahweh doesn't lie, so what gives?  The answer is that we see the line of Joseph here, the husband of Mary. Joseph was Yeshua's legal father by adoption, but he was not Yeshua's blood father.  Jeconiah's bloodline would not sit on the throne, just as Jeremiah prophesied.

The very next verse confirms this. Now the birth of Jesus Christ (Messiah) took place in this way.  When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.  Not Jeconiah's bloodline.  

We now have a fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah 7:14, which declares, Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign.  Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel (meaning God with us). In fact, Matthew quotes this prophecy in verse 23.

(Chapter 3 of the book of Luke gives the genealogy of Yeshua on His mother's side, and goes all the way back to Adam. When verse 23 says that Joseph was the son of Heli, the Greek grammar is missing the article, which indicates that Joseph is Heli's son-in-law.  Also, if you compare the two lineages, you will notice some converging and diverging, which probably has to do with Levirate marriages, when a woman's husband dies and his brother is required to take her as wife and give her a child that carries on the name of the dead husband. It is shown in as customary in Genesis with the story of Tamar and Judah, and became codified as part of the law in Deuteronomy 25:5-6.)

Anyway, to say that Joseph was quite surprised at the news of Mary's pregnancy is an understatement.  The next verse says that he planned to divorce her quietly (not publicly) and not shame her, probably because he loved her.  Deuteronomy 22:23-24 tell us that if a man lies with a betrothed virgin they both must be publicly stoned to death. 

By the way, betrothal in those days was as binding as marriage, even though the marriage had yet to be consummated.  Some say that betrothal was harder to get out of than the actual marriage itself.  It's probably why Lazar Wolf was so angry when Tevye broke the agreement he'd made with Lazar Wolf to marry his daughter in the best musical ever written, Fiddler on the Roof.

Tevye and Lazar Wolf making a marriage deal. 
Without her permission, I might add. That never goes well.

Moving on... so as Joseph was considering his options, an angelic messenger came to him in a dream, calling him Joseph, son of David, and convincing him to take Mary as his wife because the child conceived is from the Holy Spirit. 

The next verse doesn't make much sense unless you understand the Hebrew behind it. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.  In English, you cannot see the meaning or purpose of the name.  But let's splash in a little Hebrew:  You shall call his name Yeshua (God is salvation) because he will yasha (save) his people from their sins.

Chapter one wraps up with Joseph obeying the Lord, taking Mary for his wife, and then... he knew her not until she had given birth to a son. Later on, Joseph did know his wife in the biblical sense and they had at least six more children, according to Mark 6:3. So Mary was a virgin only for her firstborn and not the rest of her children, contrary to some traditions.

For part 2, click here.