Parables
are often seen as the hallmark of Yeshua’s teaching. They are stories,
some only a sentence or two long. His followers, like Yeshua himself, were
Jews, and they knew that parables were more than children’s stories or
restatements of common knowledge. However, very few of his private explanations
have been preserved and that makes his
parables mysterious and often difficult for readers today.
In
my previous email I pointed out that Yeshua was a skilled teacher and interpreter
of the Torah and the Prophets. He used parables to
highlight important points in sections of the biblical texts he taught. So,
the first thing we must do to understand his parables is identify the portions
of the biblical texts from which he was teaching or interpreting. As an example
of this, I used part of a parable from Matthew 25:34-37a:
“Then the
King will say to those on his right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of my Father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I
was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a
stranger and you took me in; I was naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you
visited me; I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then those who did the work of
TZEDAQAH will answer him . . . .’”
This
is a parable about the Great Day of Judgment – the God will
judge all humans. Everyone hearing Yeshua’s parable knew what Malachi 4:1 said
about that day:
“All the
arrogant, and everyone doing wickedness will be stubble.
‘On the day
which is coming, I will set them ablaze,’
says Yahweh
of hosts, which will not leave them a root or branches.”
The people who “inherit the kingdom prepared
from the foundation of the world” will be saved from being set ablaze on
that day. The people that heard Yeshua knew that he used that parable to do the
following:
1. Prompt them to see the
world in a different way.
2. Challenge them to look
into the hidden aspects of their own lives.
3. Bring to the surface
unasked questions and reveal answers they have always known, but refused to
acknowledge.
4. To remind, provoke, confront
and disturb them, so they would focus on the actions they needed to take.[i]
The
answers they had always known (#4) were linked to the words “for I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and
you gave me drink . . . .” This phrase is linked
to one of the most important words in the teachings of Yeshua – TZEDAQAH.
Yeshua was reminding, provoking, confronting
and disturbing them to do TZEDAQAH!
In
27 CE the phrase “do TZEDAQAH and be saved” was found countless
times in the Jewish Scriptures that parents, scribes, prophets, and the rabbis taught.
The first time it appears is in Genesis, in the story of Noah.
Noah did TZEDAQAH and Noah, his family, and a
remnant
of the animals were saved from drowning in the Great Flood.
How
did Noah know to do TZEDAQAH? Why did other people not know what
Noah knew? In order to answer these questions, we must learn some important
things about how to read the ancient Hebrew wisdom text of Genesis. Dr. Leon R. Kass provides the following insights.
1.
There is a coherent order and plan to the text.
2.
Every Hebrew word counts.
3.
Juxtapositions are important. What precedes or what follows a given sentence
or story may be crucial for discovering its meaning.
4.
The teachings of the text are not utterly opaque to human reason,
even if God and other matters remain veiled in mystery.
5.
The stories are too rich, too complex, and too deep to be captured fully,
once and for all. The pursuit of wisdom is an ongoing process
that leads to new discoveries every time one revisits the text.
6.
Genesis takes up and considers themes and questions of paramount concern to
human beings always and everywhere. Wisdom regarding family and private
life, regarding public and civic affairs, and regarding their place in and
relation to the whole and their relation to the powers that be.[ii]
Now
we are ready to visit the sections of Genesis and Isaiah that
Yeshua interpreted and taught to his apostles and followers. Visit and bookmark
the Real Yeshua Page
on the BHC website.
You will find PDFs of our Real Yeshua emails and related handouts
that you may print and use in your discussions, studies and teaching your
children. Click here to bookmark
it.
Shalom.
Jim
Myers
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