The Son of Man is Your Sign of Jonah!

 

This email is about the second time Jesus used the Hebrew idioms “good eye (generous person) and evil eye (stingy person)” in his teachings. In order to will you understand it better, you need to be aware of public fasts ceremonies in ancient Israel. The Torah ark was wheeled into the city square, where an elder addressed the crowds:

 

“Brethren, it does not say about the men of Nineveh

that God saw their sack cloth and fasting,

but that God saw their deeds,

that they had turned from their wicked ways.” [i]

 

People hearing Jesus would most have likely connected those public fasts to what Jesus taught in Luke 11:29-36. It begins with the words below:

 

²⁹ And while the crowds were thickly gathered together, he said, “This is an evil generation. It seeks a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah the prophet. ³⁰ For as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so also the Son of Man will be to this generation.” (vv. 29-30)

 

The following information from the Book of Jonah will help you understand the point made above. Follow Jonah’s journey on the map in the above graphic.

 

● In Joppa, God told Jonah to go to Nineveh and cry out against a Gentile city. Tell them their wickedness has come up before God.” (1:2).

 

● Instead, Jonah bought a ticket on a boat going in the opposite direct to Tarshish. (1:3)

 

● God sent a powerful storm that hit the ship Jonah was on (1:4).

 

● Jonah convinced sailors to throw him overboard to save the ship (1:12-15).

 

● God had a big fish waiting for Jonah. It swallowed him and he spent three days and nights inside the belly of the big fish (1:17).

 

● Jonah repented and then the fish took him to shore and literally “threw him up” on dry land. Then Jonah had a very long walk, and a long time to think, on the way to Nineveh (2:10).

 

● Jonah delivered God’s message to the King. He immediately issued a decreed:

 

“Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; do not let them eat, or drink water. But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily to God; yes, let every one turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who can tell if God will turn and relent, and turn away from His fierce anger, so that we may not perish?” (3:5-9)

 

● God saw that even the animals participated in the repentance of the nation and the people had turned from their evil ways. God decided not to destroy the city (v.10).

 

Now we are ready to return to the teachings of Jesus. It consists of four parts, with the Hebrew idioms in part 3.

 

Part 1

 

● The queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn it.

 

● She made a long journey just to hear the Wisdom of Solomon.

 

● Indeed a greater one (Son of Man) than Solomon is here (v. 11:31).

 

Part 2

 

● The men of Nineveh will rise up (resurrection?) in the judgment with this generation and condemn it.

 

● They repented at the preaching of Jonah.

 

● Indeed a greater one (Son of Man) than Jonah is here. (v. 11:32).

 

Part 3

 

● No one with a lamp hides it or puts it under a basket.

 

● One places a lamp on a lampstand so those who come in may see the light.

 

● The lamp of the body is the eye.

 

● Those with a good eye (generous giving people) have bodies full of light.

 

● Those with an evil eye (stingy greedy people) have bodies full of darkness (v. 33-34).

 

Part 4

 

● Make sure your whole body is full of light that people can see! (vv. 11:35-36)

 

In order to understand why the Son of Man is so important, click here to read our newsletter about him.

 

Below is the core message the Jewish Jesus repeated in many of his teachings:

 

You be a light in your generation by being

a generous giving person rescuing others created in the image of God.

Be the Co-Shepherd of God that especially helps the least of the people.

 

Please share and discuss it with others.

 

Shalom,

Jim Myers 

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[i] https://www.jerusalemperspective.com/4661/

Remember “The Little Shoes” and Examine Your Beliefs!

 It was close to the end of 1990, a few months after my first grandson was born. I was sitting in my study flipping through a magazine when my eyes immediately locked on the soles of two little shoes.  As I looked at those little shoes, I wondered if that the little child had a grandfather somewhere. Didn't he care as much for this child as I did for my new grandson? What about the child's mother? And then this question popped into my mind:

 

What was so powerful that it caused someone to do that to that child?

And then it hit me -- It must have been their religious beliefs! My first reaction was I would never do anything like that to my grandson! But as I thought about the preacher, Jim Jones, who orchestrated the things that happened at Jonestown, I realized that I preached many of their same things at my church. Many of the doctrines of my church were things the people at Jonestown believed. We both preached from the same Bible, and we both promised our members they would go to Heaven when they died and spend eternity with God. As a matter of fact, later after listening to a tape of the last things Jones said as people were drinking the poisoned drink that killed the little child in the picture – Jim Jones promised them they would all be together in Heaven with God that same day! 

 

I had very strong feelings attached to those same beliefs – beliefs about what happens when believers die. That was the first time I realized this:

 

My strong feelings were based on “unexamined” beliefs.

 

“Feelings” and “accuracy” are two very different things. I knew that examining my beliefs would be “an uncomfortable experience,” but not when compared to the unintended consequences that could possibly happen, “feelings were not important.” That was a life changing experience for me. I was fortunate enough to have something that the people in Jonestown didn't have -- a guideline to help me explore my belief system. I created it a few years before in order to help members of my Bible study groups deal with situations that arose when belief conflicts occurred.

 

My Belief System will be large enough to include all facts,

open enough to be examined and questioned,

flexible enough to change when errors or new facts are discovered.

 

After using this guideline for a while, I discovered something that was important -- examining your belief system alone is impossible. In 1990 the science needed to understand the brain’s functions related to beliefs did not exist. Belief systems are biological functions that take place within the extraordinarily complex neural networks of the brain.

 

Examining beliefs takes place at the conscious level of the brain. The processes linked to beliefs takes place at the subconscious level -- which processes information one million times faster than the conscious level. What are the chances of a professor in a university library finding information faster than a kid with a smartphone asking Google questions?

 

Back in 1990, belief systems were viewed as large filing cabinets with files for each belief. It was thought that the brain pulled belief files out as they were needed. Today science has revealed that the brain uses belief models to generate and live stream realities that individuals experience as life!

 

Our realities -- waking lives and dreams -- emerge from the brain’s billions of zapping cells and trillions of synaptic connections. It is from this inner universe of synaptic constellations that human decisions arise and imaginations are forged.

 

All of our life experiences take place in storms of activity

within the computational material of our brains.

 

From the moment we awaken in the morning, we are surrounded with a rush of light and sounds and smells. Our senses are flooded. All we have to do is wake up every day and without thought or effort –

 

We are immersed in our individual irrefutable realities;

an awareness of everything we sense, believe and think.

 

We all assume our “irrefutable reality” to be that of the entire objective world, but we all live in our own bubbles of rightness in which our belief models are the ultimate standard for determining what is right.

 

Stomachs digest solids and liquids and turn them into energy.

Brains ingest electrochemical information and turn them into realities.

 

Exploring Beliefscapes and Exploring Biblical Heritages give readers the knowledge and skills needed to identify and examine beliefs.

 

Never forget those “little shoes”!

 

Please share and discuss it with others.

 

Shalom,

Jim Myers 

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Laying Up Treasures in Heaven

 

In my previous email we discussed the correct meanings of the Hebrew idioms “good eye” and “evil eye” found in the teachings of Jesus. He used this saying in two different contexts. Today I will discuss the first place it appears (Matthew 6:19-24). This parable has three parts and the idioms are in part 2.

 

Part 1 (vv. 19-21):

 

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth,

where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal;

but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven,

where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

 

This part uses two parallelisms to set the stage for the opening question and statement.

 

● Parallelisms: Will you lay up treasures on earth for yourself or treasures in heaven with God?

 

● Opening Statement: Your heart is where your treasure is.

 

Part 2 (vv. 22-23):

 

The lamp of the body is the eye.

 

If you are a generous person that gives food to the poor,

your whole body will be full of light.

 

But if you are a greedy stingy person that does not give anything to the poor,

your whole body will be full of darkness.

 

● What purpose was a lamp created to fulfill? It was created to give light.

 

● “The eye” is a play on the words of the two Hebrew idioms – good eye (generous person) and evil eye (stingy person).

 

● The body was created to be “full of light” by doing generous things that meet people’s needs.

 

● The body of a stingy person is like at lamp that doesn’t give light.

 

Part 3 (v. 24):

 

No one can serve two masters;

for either he will hate the one and love the other,

or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other.

You cannot serve God and mammon.

 

● Note the words used in contrast to each other: hate or love; loyal or despise.

 

● The generous person loves God, is loyal to God, and serves God.

 

● The stingy person hates God, despises God, and serves mammon (wealth).

 

● A generous person’s heart is with God.

 

● A stingy person’s heart is with mammon.

 

Jesus appears to have been familiar with two scrolls that are not part of the Jewish Scriptures today. The first is Ben Sira, which was written between 200-175 BCE. The words below are from Ben Sira 29:8-13:

 

● Be understanding with those who are poor; do not keep them waiting for your generosity.

 

● It is better to lose your money by helping a relative or a friend than letting it rust away.

 

● Use your wealth (mammon) as the Most High has commanded.

 

● Count among your treasures the fact that you give to the poor.

 

● It will save you from all kinds of trouble and be a defense against your enemies.

 

The second scroll is Tobit 4:7-11 (written about 150 BCE).

 

● Give generously to anyone who faithfully obeys God.

 

● If you are stingy in giving to the poor, God will be stingy in giving to you.

 

● The more you have, the more you should give.

 

● This is as good as money saved.

 

● You will have your reward in a time of trouble.

 

● Taking care of the poor is the kind of offering that pleases God in heaven.

 

● Do this and you will be kept safe from the dark world of the dead.

 

Jesus was repeating ideas that had been in circulation for almost two centuries before he was born. Be sure to note Tobit’s connection of “giving to the poor” to “being kept safe from the world of the dead.” The idea of “being generous and inheriting eternal life” didn’t originate with Jesus. Please share and discuss it with others.

 

Shalom,

Jim Myers

 

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Do You Have a Good Eye!

 

Among the people that followed Jesus in the first century, “have a good-eye” was probably a regular greeting that they heard every day. What does “good eye” mean? It is also found the teachings of Jesus in Matthew 6:22-23. This saying begins with a statement, followed by two parallelisms, to make the points he wanted to make.

 

The lamp of the body is the eye.

 

If therefore you have a good eye,

your whole body will be full of light.

 

But if you have an evil eye,

your whole body will be full of darkness.

 

The underlined terms -- good eye and evil eye -- are Hebrew idioms.

 

● The words in an idiom cannot be understood by using their literal meanings. This easily seen in this English idiom -- “he really put his foot in his mouth.” We know he did not literally put his foot in his mouth, but a non-English speaker might think he did.

 

● Since these are Hebrew idioms, it indicates that Jesus and his audience were Hebrew speakers.

 

In order to discover what the Hebrew idioms mean, we look for verses in the Hebrew texts of Jewish Scriptures in which they appear. “Good eye” appears in Proverbs 22:9.

 

He who has a good eye will be blessed,
For he gives of his bread to the poor.

 

A good model for working with parallelisms is to make the first line in the parallelism a question and answer it with the second line.

 

● Question: Who is the person with a “good eye?” 

 

● Answer: It is the one who “gives his bread to the poor.”

 

In the verse from Proverbs, “good eye” describes “a generous person that helps the poor.”

 

We find “evil eye” in Deuteronomy 15:9.

 

“The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand;

and you have an evil eye against your poor brother,

and you give him nothing . . . .”

 

I will use the model above to unlock the meaning again.

 

● Question: Who is the person with an “evil eye?” 

 

● Answer: He is the one who “does not give his poor brother anything.”

 

In this verse, “evil eye” describes “a greedy stingy person that does not give to the poor.”

 

Now let’s update the words of Jesus in Matthew 6:22-23:

 

The lamp of the body is the eye.

 

If you are a generous person that gives food to the poor,

your whole body will be full of light.

 

But if you are a greedy stingy person that does not give anything to the poor,

your whole body will be full of darkness.

 

In my previous email I discussed key points found throughout the teachings of Jesus – two are guarding justice and rescuing members of the community.

 

● People with a good eye did acts that guarded justice by rescuing members of the community.

 

● People with a good eye caused the light of life to break forth through their actions.

 

Jesus will use this to make different points to two different groups he addressed. I will discuss those points in my next two emails. Thank you for exploring biblical heritages with me. Please share and discuss it with others.

 

Shalom,

Jim Myers 

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Key Insights for Understanding the Teachings of the Jewish Jesus

 

The Jewish Jesus, aka Yeshua and the Jesus of history, is the person that led the movement we read about in the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke). There are many other “belief models of Jesus Christ” that were created after the crucifixion of the Jewish Jesus.

 

It is important to understand that the Jewish Jesus was an expert teacher and interpreter of the Jewish Scriptures, especially Isaiah’s words. His calling, movement, and core teachings are based on his interpretations of sections of Isaiah. Below are the core teachings of the Jewish Jesus. You will see these points repeated throughout his teachings, including those on salvation.

 

● Guard Justice and Rescue the Community.

 

● Take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger and speaking wickedness.

 

● Extend your breath to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted lives.

 

● Share your bread with the hungry, bring the poor who are cast out to your house; cover the naked when you see them, and do not hide yourself from your own flesh.

 

● Then your light shall break forth like the morning, your restoration shall spring forth speedily, your acts of rescue shall go before you, and the glory of Yahweh shall gather you.

 

● Then Yahweh will answer when you call, your light shall dawn in the darkness, and your darkness shall be like the noonday.

 

The Jewish Jesus Movement was a group of people actively involved in guarding justice and rescuing the community. They were guided by the most ancient standard in the biblical text – the Creator’s TOV Standard.

 

Protecting and preserving lives, making lives more functional,

increasing the quality of life, and being

the Creator’s co-shepherds over all lives.

 

Jesus taught no requirements about believing in or believing anything about him. Those came from church leaders that would be born many centuries later. The next series of email will highlight how the points above are used in his teachings.

 

Thank you for reading this educational email. Please share and discuss it with others.

 

Shalom,

Jim Myers

 

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