THE BOOK OF MATTHEW
Lesson 23, chapter 7
We have now completed 2 of the 3 chapters that Matthew devoted to Yeshua's
Sermon on the Mount. Every now and then it is probably profitable to remind you
that Matthew did not write in chapters; ending one and beginning another. Rather
this was a literary invention that would come more than a millennia later in the
world of Church academics. The intent of adding chapters (and verses) was to
make study of the Bible easier and sections of the Bible more convenient to
universally identify and thus to communicate about them among ourselves more
efficient. Nonetheless, such artificial boundaries that chapters establish must be
taken lightly in Scripture study because they can interrupt a long flowing thought
process, at times dividing it in half, even making the same long thought appear to
be two separate ones occurring as separate instances when they aren't.
The concept of chapters didn't enter into writing until the 4th century; long after
the biblical canon, Old and New Testaments, were established. And even then, it
was only sparingly used of novels and some narratives. Thus we have to be
careful when applying the same Western literary concept of a chapter that tries to
find logical beginnings and endings to episodes in a story, to the Bible. Modern
literature is always written around the structure of chapters. The Bible, however,
was not constructed that way because the concept of chapters didn't even exist
within Jewish literature at that time. So going by chapters can, when studying
God's Word, at times mislead more than help. Such is the case as we study the
Sermon on the Mount in Matthew; the words of chapters 5, 6, and 7 were one
long continuous flow of divine thought without interruption. Thus as a mental
exercise, as we read the opening words of chapter 7 we should read them as
merely a continuation of the final words of chapter 6.
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Before we read chapter 7, let's do a Reader's Digest summation of what we've
found so far in the Sermon on the Mount. The Sermon was aimed at the Jewish
people that formed the bulk of all who were present in the hills above the Sea of
Galilee. And since the population of the Jewish nation was no more monolithic
than any other people, but rather consisted of groups that held to common beliefs
but were also naturally segregated by occupation, education and wealth, Yeshua
recognizes and acknowledges individual swaths of various Jewish groups when
He offers what Christendom calls the Beatitudes (blessings) to open His speech.
Nearly immediately afterward He pauses to frame exactly what His speech is
going to entail. It is going to be an instruction on the Torah. And because nearly
all the people sitting before him were more educated in Synagogue Traditions
than they were in actual biblical Torah, then He knew that there would be some
who might push back on what He was going to say and perhaps accuse Him of
teaching wrongly. Teaching wrongly meant that what He would say might not
always match with what they had heard the Scribes and Pharisees teach in their
local synagogue. Therefore He made it abundantly clear that despite what they
might at times think He was saying, in fact nothing He would say would add to,
subtract from, or change even the tiniest element or principle of the Torah or
anything recorded in the entire Hebrew Bible (although it certainly would
challenge some of the Traditions). He went so far as to say that anyone
(obviously including Himself) who taught against the Law and the Prophets, or
disobeyed those laws and commandments, would be considered least in the
Kingdom of Heaven. Alternatively, anyone who properly taught and obeyed the
Law and the Prophets would be considered greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.
Let's stop and think about that for a minute. Why did Christ invoke the idea of the
Kingdom of Heaven, and even more where one would fit within the Kingdom
societal structure based on obedience to the Torah? It is because upon John the
Baptist beginning His ministry of making a road in the wilderness for the Lord, the
Kingdom of Heaven made its first appearance on earth.
In the Hebrew Bible (the Tanach, the Old Testament) the words "the Kingdom of
Heaven" are not found. There is one mention in 2nd Chronicles 13 about the
kingdom of the Lord (literally the kingdom of Yehoveh), but it is a general term
and cannot be compared to Christ's mention of the Kingdom of Heaven (or its
synonym the Kingdom of God) as a real and actual entity unto itself. Yeshua
speaking about the Kingdom of Heaven was a new revelation. This is why so
many of His parables were about trying to explain to people (especially to His
Disciples) what the Kingdom of Heaven was and how it operated and how it
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pertained to them.
Believers, please pay close attention. The Kingdom of Heaven descended from
Heaven and began its existence on earth during Yeshua's lifetime, having never
existed on earth before. And as a result everything about the Law and the
Prophets had to now be understood within this new reality of the Kingdom of
Heaven having arrived. This meant that the simple literal sense of obedience to
every Torah commandment, law and principle now incorporated an even higher
spiritual sense and manifestation to it that included not only the here and now but
the future time when the end of all things would arrive. Thus it is not that the
higher spiritual sense that Yeshua regularly spoke about replaced the simpler
literal sense of the Torah; it is that both were now in play. Thus Christ's strong
instruction that just because He was about to introduce the Jewish people to that
higher spiritual sense that went hand in glove with the recent arrival of the
Kingdom of Heaven on earth, in no way meant that the people now had license to
ignore or disobey the Law of Moses..... or that the Law itself had changed. What
we read in later chapters of Matthew, and even later in the Epistles, tells us that
some Jews (a relative few) got the message; and others didn't. We shouldn't be
surprised; the Church is still struggling to properly understand Jesus's message
in light of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth.
After that He went on to deal with a number of Torah commandments which,
because of the arrival of the Kingdom on earth, followers of His ought to obey
even more strictly, and in another higher and better way than their fathers before
them did. That is, the essence of what Christ instructed is very nearly the
opposite of the common doctrine taught within institutional Christianity that says
that Christ came to make the Law much easier upon His followers (some going
so far as to claim He abolished the Law and the principles and commands of the
entire Hebrew Bible). So Yeshua gives some examples of what He's talking
about. For instance: murdering your brother is a capital offense under the Law
and so must not be done; everyone knows that and most people will never
murder anyway. But now, upon the arrival of the Kingdom of Heaven, even being
angry with one's brother is considered as a very severe offense akin to murder.
This is because murder happens when anger occurs first. So I ask you: which is
easier? To avoid murder, or to avoid anger? That's a rhetorical question because
we all know that not being angry is much more difficult. Next Christ speaks about
adultery and says that the Law commands that a married man or woman is not to
have sexual intimacy outside the bonds of their marriage. Yet He says that now,
upon the arrival of the Kingdom, a man even looking in lust upon a woman is just
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as serious as the actual act of adultery. Men: which is easier? To avoid adultery,
or to not even look at another woman lustfully? Other examples are given, but
you get the idea.
He sums up this portion of His teaching by saying that the point of it all is:
CJB
Matthew 5:48 Therefore, be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is
perfect.
Perfection, says Yeshua, while of course involving our behavior (following the
do's and don'ts of the Law), is more reflected by our deepest inner thoughts.
Thus perfection..... here meaning our moral perfection.... is the goal for Believers.
If we don't get angry with our brother (a moral failure says Christ) we surely
wouldn't murder him. If married men don't look lustfully at other women (another
moral failure) then we won't be tempted to commit adultery.
As Yeshua continues into what Bibles label as chapter 6, He expands the
concept of moral perfection by addressing two regular activities of Jews: giving
alms to the poor and prayer. Clearly neither of these things, on the surface,
involve disobedience to the Law. That is, Jesus doesn't admonish the people that
don't sufficiently give alms or don't pray enough; rather giving charitably and
praying was a given among Jewish society. Instead the issue is about proper
intent. That is, the inner moral condition and motive of the worshipper was the
point. And if giving and prayer are accomplished with the proper moral intent,
then drawing attention to one's self in the doing is the last thing we would ever
think to do. So if people make a public show of giving or praying, then it is
evidence that they are not giving and not praying with proper inner moral
conviction.
Once again in light of the arrival of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth, Christ says
here is how we ought to pray and He proceeds with what the Church calls The
Lord's Prayer. In it Christ shows us the elements that prayer should contain but
also the humility and moral attitude with which prayer ought to be made. Every
prayer should be addressed to The Father, should glorify The Father, and we
should acknowledge that because He is the Creator and because His will is
always done in Heaven, then His will also needs to be carried out on earth
(especially because the Kingdom of Heaven has now extended its range to
include earth.... or better, earthlings..... people). Yeshua goes on to show us that
we should ask The Father to provide for our physical and spiritual needs, and to
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be merciful and forgiving to us. At the same time our prayers should demonstrate
that we acknowledge our obligation to be merciful and forgiving to our fellow
humans, and that we have no right to expect such compassion from The Father if
we insist on holding back our compassion toward others.
After showing us how to pray Yeshua gives us some other do's and don'ts about
common activities within Jewish society such as fasting because fasting was
often associated with prayer. His next subject has been central to humankind
since the Garden of Eden: accumulating wealth. Or in modern thought: making
money. The subject is large and many faceted, so Yeshua addresses it from a
number of angles. The first angle is how we are to view the notion of wealth,
itself. We are to see it for what it is: temporary and subject to destruction.
Building further on the matter of money and wealth Yeshua offers instruction
about being generous with our wealth, and uses the common colloquial terms of
that day to categorize the level of, or lack of, such generosity: the good eye and
the evil eye. Then He goes on to explain about the eye being the lamp of the
body, which essentially means that a good eye is outwardly indicative of a
generous spirit, and an evil eye is outwardly indicative of a stingy spirit.
After that Yeshua makes a principle out of what He has said thus far. It is that no
man can have two masters; and the choice is between money and God. And
despite what many humans think, you can't have it both ways. Sometimes we
overlook the simple fact that having 2 masters is an oxymoron and that is how
the Jews would have understood it. It would be like claiming that you had two 1st
dates. One or the other was the first and only one can claim that title, no matter
how we might try to spin it. Thus in our 4 dimensional Universe it is only possible
for a man to have 1 master; all other influences well be subservient to that master
even if we don't realize it.
Since the obvious answer is built into the question of the 2 masters (God must be
that master), then the next issue is: so what do I do about the material things that
we all need..... like food, shelter, and clothing? I want to comment here that in no
way was Yeshua suggesting that material possessions and money are wrong or
evil. Rather it is that one must not focus our life on, and be controlled by, money
and wealth accumulation. Yeshua uses nature to point out that birds and plants
are beautiful and well fed without planting and sowing, and well clothed without
making their own garments. Rather God provides it all for them. Therefore while
He values all of His Creation, He values humans more than all other life forms.
So Christ's argument is that if The Father provides so well for birds and plants He
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will certainly provide even more for human beings.
In the next to the last verse of chapter 6 Yeshua draws us back to the
monumental importance of the arrival of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth, and
what this is to mean to us. He says that first and above all else, we are to seek
this Kingdom and we also to seek God's righteousness. God's righteousness is
His will to save. And to be saved is the requirement for membership to the
Kingdom. So seeking God's Kingdom and His righteousness are two sides of the
same coin. Then, says Jesus, after seeking these two things seek for all the
physical and material needs you have. So it is not a matter of having the one or
the other; it is a matter of priority and emphasis by the worshipper.
So the bottom line to Yeshua's instruction to put God first in everything is that if
we do so, then there is no need to worry about anything, and especially not to
worry about the future. By definition, worry is the opposite of faith. Therefore faith
solves the universal human problem of worry.
Let's read Matthew chapter 7.
READ MATTHEW CHAPTER 7 all
Verse 1 takes us back to how we are to treat our fellow human beings (which is
more often than not the meaning of "neighbor"). By saying "do not judge" some
believe that Christ has announced a 100% injunction against reasonable
conclusions drawn from personal observations and experiences. As Davies and
Allison point out, if that were the case we wouldn't even be able to choose
between true and false religions. The judging being spoken of is not referring to a
judicial setting; rather it is about how we measure a person and their actions in
rather typical day to day activities. Let me pause here to make a point that I
believe is much needed in Christianity. Just as judging another person is not
being rigidly prohibited, but rather it must be done within the bounds of mercy
and compassion, the issue is that nearly every matter of human interest is not as
black and white as we'd like to make it.
It is ironic that especially gentile Believers at once rebel against the idea of
following a rules-based religion (which is what they accuse Jews of doing), but at
the same time want their Pastors and priests to give them a simple rule to follow
regarding many circumstances they might encounter so that they can quickly
solve a conundrum. Thus many Christians view the permissions and prohibitions
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of the Law of Moses as too difficult and inflexible, and yet at the same time want
black and white, yes and no answers to complex matters. Let me illustrate by
giving you an example of two extremes. I've heard the Catholic Church defend
their priests from punishment for child molestation on the basis of Jesus having
told us we're not to judge. I also know of women who were judged as sinful by
the church elders because they heard that she had fled her husband in fear; and
this without any personal knowledge of the facts. It's only that for them divorce is
prohibited for any reason and so a woman who separates from her husband
under any circumstances is automatically judged to be wrong and committing a
sin.
When we live our lives according to favorite verses or even parts of verses lifted
out of context, or without considering all that the Bible has to say on a subject,
then our viewpoints become skewed and polarized. The issue about judging that
begins chapter 7 is not that we are to check our brains at the door of our homes,
workplaces, or church, but rather we are not to invoke what Martin Luther called
"self-centered wisdom". We are not to try to make ourselves look better, or more
wise, or especially more pious by disparaging another. Thus we are to be very
careful and considered in our conclusions about a person, and always operating
within the moral insights that God's Word provides for us. The key is to
thoroughly know God's Word such that we don't fall back on what amounts to
sayings and partial truths.
Let me be clear on what this instruction not to judge means. It means not to
condemn or deplore our fellow man, and this because we are not his judicial
judge. Rather God is our judicial judge in Heaven. And thus, says the second part
of the verse, the reason we don't want to judge others (denounce others) is so
that God won't judge us IN THE JUDICIAL SENSE. In other words, Christians
today regularly talk about the final judgment, meaning a verdict is going to be
rendered upon us: either guilty or innocent. That is the meaning of the second
part of verse, but that is not the meaning of the first half of the verse. This
interpretation is borne out by the words of verse 2.
CJB
Matthew 7:2 For the way you judge others is how you will be judged-
the measure with which you measure out will be used to measure to you.
Let me give you an illustration that might help with this. An official judicial trial
judge (the kind we're all familiar with), sitting on the bench in a courtroom is not
going to have God judge him at the Great Judgment in the same way he applied
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our civil and criminal laws to violators. So if a judge, following the law in good
faith in a court setting, determines that the accused is legitimately guilty of
robbery and sentences that person to spend a year in jail, that judge is not going
to later be subjected to that same treatment by God. Rather it is that in a non-
judicial setting, by the criticisms and belief or an ordinary person, that our
personal wisdom can best decide what was in another person's heart, what their
inner motives for their actions were, and so we make a determination of how God
views them, then such an attitude means that we have made ourselves subject to
God judging us in the ultimate divine judicial setting; and then we will bear the
eternal consequences of God's verdict. So judging others from the sense of
damning them and deploring them is a sin of high order, and it is bad for our
eternal health, says Christ. And the only reason I can think of that He would bring
up the subject is because it is something that He witnessed happening all too
often among the Jewish community.
I don't want to waste an opportunity to point something else out that seems to be
pushed to the background within Christendom. Verse 2, as with things Christ has
said earlier in His sermon, again invokes a quid pro quo. What you do to others
will have a direct result in what God does with you. Yes, God of course is loving,
merciful and compassionate. Yet, that doesn't mean that The Father is like a
kindly grandfather that looks the other way when his children and grandchildren
sin. Rather, there are things we can think and do that will be proportionately
responded to by The Lord. Measure for measure is often the biblical term used to
express that. This is an old idea in the Bible; but Christ again demonstrates that
no Torah principle or law has been abrogated by Him.
CJB
Obadiah 1:15 For the Day of ADONAI is near for all nations; as you did,
it will be done to you; your dealings will come back on your own head.
Matthew 7:3 continues with the concept of judging others (condemning and
deploring others) when Christ speaks of censuring someone who has a splinter in
their eye, but you have a log in your own. On the surface anyone can understand
this. We have an old folk saying that well captures the meaning: it's the pot
calling the kettle black. The idea is that the pot has been far more blackened by
the soot of a fire (rendering it blemished) than the smaller kettle (originally
meaning a tea pot) could ever be. And yet the pot points out the same flaw it has,
even in larger proportion, than the lesser flaw on the kettle.
Thus Yeshua takes a subject that might be difficult to envision because it can
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exist too much within the realm of theory, and He makes it easy to visualize by
using extremes: an entire log versus a tiny splinter. What He is talking about is an
example of extreme hypocrisy. And the irony is that the self-righteous one with
the enormous flaw is condemning the other person for their rather tiny flaw. It is
not that the one is flawed and the other isn't. Both are flawed, because both are
human. And in another sense, if you are condemning the same, but much less
prevalent, flaw of another are you not in essence condemning yourself?
Let me take this to another level. What underlies this statement is the issue not
only of hypocrisy in the P'shat sense, but of inner moral defect in
the Remez sense. Hypocrisy is rather easily seen and detected because it
manifests in our words and our actions. But inner moral defect can be hidden
away, such that only God can see it. Further, just as anger presages murder, so
does inner moral defect presage hypocrisy. The result of someone who has a log
in their own eye trying to lead someone who merely has a speck in their eye, is a
classic example of the blind leading the blind. That is what is so wonderful about
hearing and drinking in the words of Yeshua. We are hearing from a God-man
who has no log or even splinter in His eye. He is without sin, bears no wrong
motives, no inner moral defects, and no hypocrisy. It is the opposite of the blind
leading the blind. It is the one who sees leading those of us with so little sight.
I will make a confession for myself as a Pastor and Bible teacher that I suspect
many of my calling may well share. We barely have more sight than those that
we attempt to lead. We are not Jesus. We are closer to the blind leading the
blind. It is just that God, in His mercy, has opened our eyes the slightest bit more
with the purpose of our helping and being a shepherd to those whom He loves. I
am really not much more than Balaam in the Old Testament, who was full of
flaws yet God, for His own divine purposes, opened Balaam's eyes enough to
show Him something important and wonderful.
CJB
Numbers 24:1-5
1
When Bil'am saw that it pleased ADONAI to bless
Isra'el, he didn't go, as at the other times, to make use of divination, but
looked out toward the desert.
2
Bil'am raised his eyes and saw Isra'el
encamped tribe by tribe. Then the Spirit of God came upon him,
3
and he
made his pronouncement: "This is the speech of Bil'am, son of B'or; the
speech of the man whose eyes have been opened;
4
the speech of him who
hears God's words; who sees what Shaddai sees, who has fallen, yet has
open eyes:
5
"How lovely are your tents, Ya'akov; your encampments,
Isra'el!
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"The speech of him who hears God's words". That is the key to this passage.
It is God's words, not the thoughts and oratory of Bible teachers or Pastors or
even prophets, which are wonderful. It is God's words that have the power to
remove the log and open our eyes and relieve us of our blindness. This is why
we must take Christ's words to heart and never doubt them. My only goal.... the
goal and purpose for Seed of Abraham Torah Class.... is to present you with
God's words in such a way that they will also open your eyes, at least as much as
they opened mine. Yet the words of Numbers 24:5 tells us something critical for
the Church. The Gentile Balaam says: "How lovely are your tents, Jacob; your
encampments, Israel!". Unless and until Gentile Believers acknowledge the
loveliness of Israel before God, and their important place in redemption history
from the past, in the present, and into the future, God's words will fall flat upon
us. Those wonderful words will not be properly understood or applied, they are
taken out of their ultimate context, and our sight will remain greatly blurred as
was Balaam's until He sincerely sought and believed God's words.
Verse 6 can sound rather harsh to us, and there is an inference at the beginning
of the verse that can be misunderstood. "Don't throw what is holy to dogs" is what
I'm speaking about. In our time dogs are beloved pets, even considered by many
to be family members. That was in no way the case in the 1st century, especially
among Jews. Dogs were wild animals; they were unclean scavengers that
roamed the streets of cities, usually in packs. They were detested and avoided
because they were considered unclean, even dangerous. Thus that is how we
must understand the word dogs as used here. While it is true that in a few
passages in the Bible the term "dog" is used as an expression applied to
homosexuals, usually as male prostitutes (the term homosexual didn't exist then,
and in fact was only coined in the 19th century), that is not the case in verse 6.
Christ is once again using nature, so to speak, to make His point. First it is dogs,
and then it is pigs.
Let's try to put on our 1st century Jewish mindset to understand how the crowd
would have understood Christ's words. What did people throw to dogs? Their
garbage. Leftover or spoiled food. Dogs were the cities' sanitation workers of the
time. So what is food that is holy? Only the food that has been taken to the
Temple, much of it sacrificed, and then given to the Priests as their portion to eat.
Therefore it would be terribly inappropriate to give the Priestly food to things
(dogs) that are unclean.
Then next part of the verse, "don't throw your pearls to pigs" is but another angle
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on the same subject. Pigs were unclean animals when used as food. Contrary to
what some think, within the Hebrew religion of Yeshua's day touching a live pig
did not mean that you contracted uncleanness from it. Rather it was that a pig
was not permissible for food. The word "unclean" came to be used as a very
broad and general term whether for the inherently unclean, whereby coming into
contact with it indeed transmitted ritual impurity to the one who did the touching
(such as touching a dead body), as well as for animals that you couldn't consume
as food but touching them as live creatures had no effect at all (pigs, shellfish,
and shrimp for example). So dogs were deemed unclean by Tradition, while pigs
were pronounced as not permitted as food. Thus in Christ's story both dogs and
pigs are unclean to the Jewish people, but each for a different reason.
Pearls were the most valuable of precious objects. They were more valuable than
gold. Thus the idea is that that of highest value ought not be presented to that
which is not worthy. I can do no better than to quote from the ICC Commentary
on this matter:
"In Matthew 7:6 this rule, by virtue of its new context, becomes a
comprehensive statement about the necessity to keep distinct the realms
of the clean and the unclean".
The new context is that the Kingdom of Heaven has arrived on earth. But it is a
new context that surrounds an old rule. We find the essence of this rule in the
Book of Exodus.
CJB
Exodus 29:32-34
32
Aharon and his sons will eat the ram's meat and the
bread in the basket at the entrance to the tent of meeting.
33
They are to eat
the things with which atonement was made for them, to inaugurate and
consecrate them; no one else may eat this food, because it is holy.
34
If any
of the meat for the consecration or any of the bread remains until morning,
burn up what remains; it is not to be eaten, because it is holy.
This passage in the Torah provides the basis for Christ's statement about not
throwing holy food to dogs (unclean creatures). That is, not even spoiled or
unused holy food was to be eaten by dogs or anyone or anything for that matter.
Why? Look at Exodus 29 verse 34. After the Priests have eaten their portion, the
remainder is NOT to be merely thrown out; it is to be burned up thus destroying it
so that no other creature.... not even scavengers who were created by God for
the purpose of ridding the earth of what is unclean... can have it.
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Further: within the new context (the Kingdom of Heaven), the pearl (the most
precious object) was used metaphorically as the Kingdom itself. Thus the
Kingdom is not for the unclean. I think to put this in the form of a rule or principle
it is this: while we are commissioned to take the Good News of the Kingdom of
Heaven to the world, we are not to waste our time with the hard hearted and
those who outright reject the message.
I'll leave you for today with the words of Messiah Yeshua that Matthew records in
chapter 10 regarding this exact issue.
CJB
Matthew 10:5-15
5
These twelve Yeshua sent out with the following
instructions: "Don't go into the territory of the Goyim, and don't enter any
town in Shomron,
6
but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of
Isra'el.
7
As you go, proclaim, 'The Kingdom of Heaven is near,'
8
heal the
sick, raise the dead, cleanse those afflicted with tzara'at, expel demons.
You have received without paying, so give without asking payment.
9
Don't
take money in your belts, no gold, no silver, no copper;
10
and for the trip
don't take a pack, an extra shirt, shoes or a walking stick- a worker should
be given what he needs.
11
"When you come to a town or village, look for
someone trustworthy and stay with him until you leave.
12
When you enter
someone's household, say, 'Shalom aleikhem!'
13
If the home deserves it,
let your shalom rest on it; if not, let your shalom return to you.
14
But if the
people of a house or town will not welcome you or listen to you, leave it
and shake its dust from your feet!
15
Yes, I tell you, it will be more tolerable
on the Day of Judgment for the people of S'dom and 'Amora than for that
town!
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