We’ve got a topic this week that partially builds on last week’s message. Last week we talked about worship, and for some reason this week the topic of patriarchy came to mind. The intention was to point out a certain key aspect of Yeshua’s teaching, however upon starting with a review of His ministry I came across something that had to do with last week’s topic. I found that there was an interesting statement made by Yeshua during His temptation in the wilderness, and it directly involved the concept of worship.
Now, to be fair, we did not get into the Greek words for worship last week, so we naturally wouldn’t have come across this in our study. Nevertheless, it’s an interesting item to bring up, so it was worthy of touching on this week. When tempted in the wilderness, Yeshua fought against the Devil’s offer of giving Him the kingdoms of the world by stating that it is written, “Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only,” (Matthew 4:10).
Yeshua is quoting this statement from Deuteronomy, however when you go and read that particular verse, none of the Hebrew words for worship are present (Deuteronomy 6:13). In fact, the Hebrew version of this verse actually says, “Fear YHWH your God and serve Him only, and take your oaths in His name.” When we look at the Septuagint (the Greek version of the Old Testament), we find that it says something quite different: “You shall fear the Lord your God, and Him you shall worship, and to Him you shall cleave, and in His name you shall take refuge.”
It almost seems as though Yeshua created a “Gree-brew” version of the verse, doesn’t it? He created an amalgamation of the Greek Septuagint version with the Hebrew version. While it is certainly His right to do this, it being His word and all, it brings up an interesting aspect of worship we haven’t mentioned before: reverent fear. While the Septuagint version aligns the Hebrew word for servitude (spoken aw-bad) with worship and keeps fear separate, Yeshua maintained the idea of servitude and instead aligned the Hebrew word for fear (spoken yaw-ray) with worship. So, while you are worshipping by serving YHWH, remember that it should include a reverent fear of Him. Worship is certainly a complex concept, isn’t it?
As you can see in the context of Yeshua’s reference, this statement was made by Moses after reminding the Israelites of YHWH’s commandments before they entered the land promised to them by YHWH. All the quotes Yeshua gave in the wilderness were from Deuteronomy, in fact. This is how He started His ministry once He was baptized by John, and once He overcame these temptations in the wilderness and went into public preaching, He started with the Law that every Jew knew.
However, He wasn’t just there to regurgitate the Torah. When He was stating the Law, He would also give a clarification to it. The commandment against murder He associated with anger, instead of just the physical action of killing someone (Matthew 5:21-22). The commandment against adultery He associated with mental lust, instead of just a physical action of infidelity (Matthew 5:27-28). The commandment requiring a certificate for divorce He associated only with sexual immorality, instead of the myriad of reasons Jews had authorized for themselves (Matthew 5:31-32). And so on He went, clarifying many aspects of the Law.
He even commanded a person He healed to provide the offering required by the Law given to Moses (Matthew 8:4), but these associations, or references, to Moses were not the focal point of His ministry, were they? While He was clear that none of that Law was abolished (Matthew 5:17-18), when you look at His ministry as a whole, what He was trying to teach the Jews was that they needed to step outside the pure words of that Law. This was unheard of at the time, as the pure words and legalization of them seemed to be the sole focus of their religious leaders.
Yeshua was challenging the legalism that Jewish worship of YHWH had turned into, and one of the ways He did that was to use another pillar of their society: patriarchy. Multiple times, He used a phrase with three historical individuals that were revered by all Jews. He used it when talking in various situations about impending judgment on Jews (Matthew 8:11-12, Luke 13:28) and He used it when talking about resurrection (Matthew 22:31-32, Mark 12:26, Luke 20:37). These individuals were Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (later renamed Israel), and the apostles keyed in on this aspect of Yeshua’s ministry in their writing as well.
Lineage was, and is, very much a focus of Jewish culture. Notice that there are no references to Moses, as far as lineage goes, that people used as an identifying characteristic for them. John didn’t say, “we have Moses as our father,” when talking about how the Jews justified themselves (Luke 3:8). John was talking about them needing to repent or they would be subject to YHWH’s wrath, while the Jews saw no need for repentance based on their connection to Abraham. Yes, they followed the Law, and all the extra stipulations added to it by their religious leaders, but when it came down to it, they rested in the comfort of their bloodline to Abraham as being the other half of the fulfillment of their righteousness. In other words, they thought they could do no wrong because they came from Abraham.
It's worth taking a moment here to also recognize the reaction of those John was talking to for what it was. At least some of them, when confronted by this truth spoken by John, didn’t just dismiss it and go on with their lives. They were legitimately concerned with what John was preaching and how they would be affected by it (Luke 3:10-14). Whether it was out of fear or because they could tell John was speaking truth, they not only stopped to listen and heed what he was saying, they took action by choosing to have him baptize them. Remember, the Holy Spirit hadn’t been given yet, so this was just a natural reaction of people that were hearing John’s truth.
In order to fully drive home the point of how much their bloodline meant to them, and subsequently how meaningful their rejection of Yeshua and His followers was, we have to take a moment to look at how they generally interacted with each other and put ourselves in that mindset. Josephus, the main recorder of the Jewish Revolt from 66-73AD that we’ve looked at before, described how Jews welcomed other Jews during feasts like Passover, regardless of if they knew them or not. In fact, this is how some of the leaders of the zealots during the Revolt came to power in Jerusalem. They were welcomed into the city, and even listened to and followed by other Jews, solely based on the fact that they were also Jewish.
If we were to put ourselves in that mindset, it would be as if we looked at some stranger like they were our immediate family, simply because we knew that they were another descendant of one of our ancestors. We might have no idea who this person is, who their parents are, or what they have done in life, but we would welcome them like they were our closest family. Yeshua and His Jewish followers would have had the Jewish community’s fundamental respect simply by being a descendant of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Yes, the Jews had their judgments of each other based on who they were in their society, but when it came down to the value of the life of another Jew, it was placed above all of that.
That’s one of the reasons why their treatment by others was so shocking, and downright terrifying, for Jewish followers of Yeshua. Where once they were valued by other Jews simply based on their common ancestry, now they were lower than even Gentiles, who at the time were looked at like dogs. And on top of that, they couldn’t tell off hand who would go report them to religious leaders for going against their teachings or even if they would try to stone them. And they had no idea off-hand who would continue to treat them like a brother or sister or protect them from those who sought to destroy them.
Their patriarchs were almost deified by Jews in their society, and the key aspect of it being a part of Yeshua’s ministry and the writings of the New Testament is that these individuals preceded the giving of the Law and the oral tradition the Jews held most dear. They preceded the thing the Jews lived by, even designed their whole life around, and it was no small thing that Yeshua stated that these patriarchs would be partaking in the banquet of the kingdom of heaven while the Jews He was speaking to would be receiving judgment. It was no small thing that He was associating the resurrection with these patriarchs while calling the Jews He was preaching to spiritually dead.
Yeshua didn’t mention Moses for these things not because he wouldn’t be a part of them. On the contrary, Moses was one of the two historical figures seen with Yeshua during His transfiguration right before He was crucified (Matthew 17:1-13, Mark 9:1-13, Luke 9:28-36). Yeshua didn’t mention Moses for these things because He was trying to get the people to understand that they are not associated with the Law given to Moses, they are associated with something older than that: a promise given by YHWH to Abraham and the fact that this promise was based on faith rather than works.
You see, the Law can tell us how YHWH wants His people to live physically, but ultimately what’s in our heart precedes those physical actions. If our heart says I want to be righteous so I follow the commandments, our actions in following those commandments are meaningless. If our heart says I love YHWH so I follow His commandments, our actions in following those commandments mean more than just their physical accomplishment. If our heart says I give to the needy because my pastor said that’s what I’m supposed to do, our giving lacks any meaning beyond a transaction between you and whoever you give to. If our heart says I love everyone and want to help anyone that needs it in any way I can, our giving moves beyond a transaction and into a spiritually meaningful event.
In short, what we’re talking about here is an alignment of physical action with the truth behind the meaning of that action. YHWH meant for us to take care of each other out of love, not out of an obligation based on a commandment. He meant for us to worship Him out of love, not based on some religious leader saying that’s what we’re supposed to do. If we don’t have this alignment in our lives, then what we do is meaningless, no matter what we say we do it for, and we’d be better off not doing it at all.
There’s an interesting connection of all this that we find in Jeremiah (Jeremiah 17:10). In this verse, YHWH says He intimately examines the heart, determines the genuineness of the mind, and gives to man according to his path and the fruit of his deeds. This verse deserves its own deep dive, because there’s so much depth in the Hebrew words chosen, but the short version is that whatever YHWH gives to us in life is based on four things: 1) what our will, or intention, was in doing a deed, 2) how we felt about the deed and if we were being pure/genuine in doing it, 3) what path we were on in life and where we were on that path when we did that deed, and 4) what the deed accomplished; what grew from it.
So many times, we, as followers of Yeshua, fall into the same mindset that the Jews Yeshua was preaching to fell into. Our focus becomes the actions we take and verifying that those actions line up with some requirement here, or the approval of some religious leader there. We fail to remember that it’s an alignment of every aspect of us that YHWH uses to determine what we deserve; what He will give us. That’s one of the reasons why Yeshua talked about the patriarchs when talking about spiritual condemnation and spiritual reward, and it’s why He clarified the true intention behind many of the commandments.
In truth, it’s not always easy for us, as fallen beings, to ensure we have this alignment, even after Yeshua’s sacrifice. Paul wrote about his struggles between what he wants to do (his will) versus what he ends up doing (his actions) (Romans 7:14-16), and put into words the challenge we all have with maintaining alignment in ourselves. As you go forward in life, make a conscious effort to periodically verify that you are in alignment. And remember, part of achieving that alignment is spending time with YHWH through studying His word and talking to Him. The world can say whatever it wants about what He wants for you and what His message is to you, but the source of truth and the way He speaks directly to us is through our deep diving into what He has preserved throughout time to speak to us: His scripture.
We hope you have a great week! Shabbat shalom and YHWH bless you!
-Rob and Sara Gene
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